


Steve Rogers' Ultimate Guide to a Very Merry Christmas

by rememberednoah



Category: Captain America (Movies), Captain America - All Media Types
Genre: Adorable, Bakery, Baking, Christmas, Christmas Caroling, Christmas Decorations, Christmas Eve, Christmas Fluff, Christmas Music, Christmas Party, Christmas Presents, Christmas Tree, Christmas with the Avengers, Cussing, Cute, Drunken Shenanigans, Drunkenness, Fluff, Hot Chocolate, I'm Bad At Tagging, Knitting, M/M, Marriage Proposal, Marshmallows, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Post Captain America: Civil War, Post-Serum Steve Rogers, Snow, Super Soldier Serum, Sweaters, Sweet, Ugly Holiday Sweaters, Ugly Sweaters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-25
Updated: 2016-02-06
Packaged: 2018-05-09 07:21:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 27,914
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5530802
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rememberednoah/pseuds/rememberednoah
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Steve Rogers concocts the perfect plan to celebrate Bucky's first Christmas being back. In which Steve makes a list of all the things that he needs to do to make it perfect. In which Steve checks off every single item on that list. In which Bucky and Steve have a very merry Christmas.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Step One: Buy a Christmas tree and decorate it.

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is a Christmas present for my friend Vivian. You know who you are. This fluffy as hell fic is for you, babe ;) 
> 
> Warning: I live in an island so Christmas trees are brought here in wagons and shit and you just usually get handed one randomly. I don't describe it that way here but the way I describe it could be completely wrong from how it happens in the States and if it is, I apologize xD 
> 
> This is Post-Civil War and everything is fine and everyone is happy because I said so.

Steve Rogers had concocted a perfect plan to celebrate Bucky's first Christmas being back. It wasn't, technically speaking, Bucky's _first_ Christmas back. If Steve were to get technical, he would acknowledge that already two Christmases had gone by. The thing was that those didn't count for Steve because the first one was clouded by Bucky's general skittishness and the second one was clouded with the shitstorm that had gone down with Tony. But all that was over now and Steve was going to make sure Bucky had the best goddamned Christmas imaginable. He'd even made a list of all the things that he needed to do to make it perfect. He would be damned if he didn't check off every single entry on that list.

**{ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ }**

Steve tried to get his plan into motion one week before. It did not go so well, but it didn’t really go terribly. Steve attempted to get his plan into motion while Bucky sat on the couch, watching TV, and Steve was laying there with his head on the dark haired man's lap. He looked away from the screen of the TV, which was playing The Big Bang Theory because Bucky had become obsessed with it, and looked up at Bucky. The dark haired man didn’t look at him immediately and instead kept absently massaging Steve’s scalp with his fingertips as he continued watching the show. He was so used to having the blonde suddenly look at him and watch him for a few seconds that he didn’t see anything strange about it happening in that moment. 

"We're getting a tree this year, right?" He tried to make the question sound out of the blue and casual, but it didn't exactly turn out that way. He was too anxious and excited and determined about making this Bucky’s best Christmas. 

Bucky looked at him suddenly, his fingers freezing where they were buried in Steve's blonde hair. "Are you sure? We didn't get one last year. We don't have to get one this year." 

Steve tried not to look or sound disappointed. If Bucky wasn't even going to go along with Steve's plan then it would be a failure and totally fall apart in his hands. But then, how could he make Bucky excited about the idea? He was not completely sure, but he was going to try.

Steve reached out a hand toward Bucky and pushed aside the dark strands of hair that had fallen on his face. He then absently ran a finger along Bucky’s jaw as he tried to choose his next words as carefully as possible. All he wanted was to make sure that this man, the man he loved _so_ much, had the most amazing Christmas ever. Bucky deserved it. They both did. 

"I want one. It'll be fun. Will you at least think 'bout it, Buck? Like _really_ think about it? I think it will be good for us to have a _normal_ Christmas, maybe one even better than back in the day. _Hopefully_ better than back in the day," Steve said, trying to keep the pleading from his blue eyes but not quite sure he was being successful. He wanted this too badly. He wanted Bucky to play along too badly to be sure he was managing to keep a calm expression. 

Bucky nodded, meeting Steve's blue eyes, and began to run his fingers through the blonde's hair again. Steve decided that, for the time being, that was good enough. 

That conversation took place exactly one week ago. Now, seven full days later, Steve had spent the last fifteen minutes trying to get Bucky to get his sorry ass off the couch and into their car. Bucky was glued to the couch, watching a cheesy Christmas movie from the Hallmark channel. The dark haired man was obsessed with them for reasons incomprehensible to Steve. All those movies were insanely unrealistic and cheesy and romantic and just not like anything Bucky seemed like he would enjoy. Well, he enjoyed them a lot and it was preventing Steve from carrying out the first step of his plan for the most amazing Christmas ever lived. 

"Bucky, c'mon. The movie will be there when we get back along with the hundred others you've recorded and watched ten times already," Steve said, giving Bucky's shoulder a soft nudge. The dark haired man was not budging. He poked Steve's side and kept watching the movie with a goofy smile playing across his lips. 

Steve was beginning to think he might need to destroy the TV. He loved seeing Bucky so happy, even if the smile was produced by one of those terrible Christmas movies from the Hallmark channel, but he seriously needed to get the man to get in the car. He stared at the screen and then at Bucky. He decided to try another tactic that did not involve destroying their property. "If you don't stop watching that movie and get in the car, I'm going to cancel our cable. I won't even think twice. You watch more TV than I do. I wouldn't suffer without it." 

Steve knew he was playing dirty, and deep down it was an empty threat, but the day was good for Christmas tree shopping. It wasn't snowing heavily outside and it wasn't too insanely cold. Plus, he'd been thinking about getting a tree for a week now and each time he tried to get Bucky to leave the house he would convince Steve, one way or another, to stay in the house. Steve wasn't gonna be won over so easily this time. Bucky and he were going to go buy a tree if it killed them and they were going to decorate it and be _happy_. 

"You wouldn't," Bucky said, gray eyes narrowing and zeroing in on Steve. 

Steve raised a blonde eyebrow and asked, "Are you sure 'bout that, babe? Would you risk it?" 

Bucky's eyes narrowed even more until he nearly looked like a funny caricature glancing at Steve with contempt. Steve held his ground and kept that blonde eyebrow raised until Bucky sighed. "Fine, _fine_. You've been tryin' 'ta get me outta this house for a week now. Don't think I haven't noticed. What’d ya' have planned?" 

"It's a surprise. C'mon, put on your coat and stuff," Steve said, giving Bucky's side an encouraging shove. 

Bucky stood up without another sound of complaint and disappeared into their room. By the time the dark haired man reemerged he was wearing his coat, a dark gray scarf and gloves. Steve was already standing by the door, ready to leave the house. Bucky rolled his eyes when he saw the blonde and that was Steve's cue to open the door. The blonde wasn’t going to give Bucky time to change his mind and so he opened the door and left it open for the dark haired man to follow after him. Bucky followed only slightly begrudgingly. 

Steve turned on the car and made sure to plug in his phone so they could listen to Pentatonix’s Christmas album. Sam had gotten it for him and Steve was now obsessed with it. He played it everywhere, anytime, and at any opportunity he got. Bucky didn’t comment on this, possibly because he was incredibly used to it, and simply stared out the window at the sights passing by. Since Bucky didn't complain, Steve turned up the volume. Bucky seemed to shake his head a little, out of amusement, but he still didn't utter a word against what Steve had done. Steve grinned and saw that, at the very least, as a small victory. 

By the time Steve pulled up at The Home Depot where they had set up so you could personally choose what tree you wanted and then they'd cut it for you, he was singing along happily to the song playing in the car. He parked the car in the first spot he found and grinned over at Bucky. "Let's go! We're buying a Christmas tree."

"Are you serious, Stevie? We're grown men, living on our own, without kids. We don't need to get a tree," Bucky said it, but he didn't sound completely opposed to the idea. He actually hadn’t shown any great issue with the idea of getting a tree ever since Steve brought it up as an option. 

"Don't come at me with that, Buck. You should have a proper Christmas. When was the last time we had a good and proper Christmas, huh?" Steve asked, already stepping out of the car so that Bucky would follow suit. The dark haired man did not disappoint. He got out of the car and walked over to Steve's side. 

"I don't need a big tree and to have the house decorated to have a good and proper Christmas. I got you and that's all I need for Christmas," Bucky said, bumping his shoulder with Steve's and smiling earnestly. 

"Don't be such a sap. C'mon. We're buying a tree and then we're gonna decorate it and then decorate the house and you're going to be _happy_ about it," Steve said, grabbing Bucky's hand and giving him a big grin. He made sure to make it one of the ones he knew Bucky found contagious. 

Once Bucky started smiling slightly, Steve began to sing as he led Bucky toward the trees. He began to sing in tune with Pentatonix’s version of Santa Claus is Coming to Town. Steve knew Bucky recognized it even though he was singing completely out of tune. He really didn’t care about his singing. He just wanted to make Bucky smile and get excited about the idea of getting a tree. "Santa is coming to town! Santa is coming to town! Santa is coming to town! Santaaaa is coming to town! You better watch out! You better not cry! You better not pout! I'm telling you why! Santa Claus is coming to town! Santa is coming to town! He's making a list, checking it twice—"

The more he sung, the louder he got, until Bucky was laughing and running up to Steve to cover his mouth with his hand. "Do ya' want ta' make sure everyone here goes deaf, Stevie? Think of the children." 

That only spurred Steve on and he began to sing louder until the few kids around actually started singing along with him and jumping up and down excitedly. The kids then began to run around singing and their parents had to desperately chase after them. Steve resumed his singing, eyes trained on Bucky, and he could feel a smile spreading across his lips and had to hold back the urge to laugh. 

"Steeeeve," Bucky whined, "Don't make a scene." 

But Bucky was already halfway laughing and his eyes were shining and all Steve wanted was to make sure he broke out into one of his huge and rare grins. "I'll stop as soon as you start singing with me." 

Bucky dramatically rolled his eyes and Steve opened his mouth to continue singing as he immersed himself into the thick crowd of trees. The blonde resumed singing and Bucky joined in reluctantly, at first, until the two men were making proper fools of themselves in the plain light of day where everyone could see. They didn't notice if anyone stopped to stare. They just kept singing until Bucky broke into a laugh because this was all ridiculous and so was Steve and he loved the blonde idiot. 

It was actually fifteen minutes later that the two of them actually picked out a tree. They spent most of those fifteen minutes running around between the trees, Steve trying to keep away from Bucky and Bucky trying to catch him. Steve only abruptly stopped when he saw the _ideal_ tree for them. The tree was a positively _huge_ one and Steve grinned devilishly at it and shouted, "This one, Buck!" 

Steve knew it was the perfect tree. It was huge and green as hell and smelled delicious. He wanted to shove his face in it and intoxicate himself with the smell. He grabbed Bucky's hand and forced him to stand near the tree. "Don't you think this one is perfect? C'mon, Buck. It's totally perfect." 

Steve thought Bucky would argue, but the dark haired man just shook his head and looked at Steve like he thought Steve was a silly and adorable goof. Bucky stepped closer to Steve and pulled the blonde toward him by his coat. He chuckled softly and leaned down until his nose brushed against Steve's. Steve met the gray eyes of his Bucky and couldn't help the grin that took shape on his lips. He was sure his eyes were positively sparkling with joy and he didn't care. He softly rubbed his nose against Bucky's until the other man barked out a laugh and pressed his lips gently to Steve's. 

"It's perfect, Stevie." Another kiss. "Absolutely perfect." 

Steve grinned victoriously and searched out for an employee. Not so long afterward, the tree was strapped to the hood of the car and Steve was driving them back home. He had already prepared for when the tree was bought and so all the decorations were already hidden away in a room Bucky never went into even though there was no reason for him _not_ to. Steve was blasting Christmas music loudly in the car and it didn't take much convincing until Bucky was singing along with him. By the time they made it back to the house, both men were singing loudly together and ridiculously dancing along to the music.

Still singing, Steve opened up the front door and then went back to the car to unstrap the tree from the hood of the car. With Bucky's help, even though he really did not need it, Steve brought the tree into the house. Once it was inside, Steve let out a victorious, "Yes!" 

After letting out that cheerful signal of success, Steve went looking for the Christmas tree stand and the plastic boxes full of decorations. He had three boxes full of decorations, but they weren’t full of decorations just for the tree, but also for the house. Now that he thought about it, he forgot to buy lights to hang out of the house. He figured he would buy those later if he realized they needed anything else. He stacked up the boxes of decorations one on top of the other and the tree stand at the very top. He carried it all easily to the living room where the tree and Bucky were waiting for him. 

"When did you get all that, Stevie?" Bucky asked when he looked up from what he was doing. He had been hooking up his phone to the stereo to continue playing some Christmas songs. Steve was secretly pleased that he had fully converted Bucky into listening to the festive music. 

"About two weeks ago. It was all just so nice and I've been thinkin' bout this all year and I just want it to be great and—" Steve shrugged and set everything down on the floor. 

"And somehow I'm the sap. Come on. Let's do this," Bucky said, clapping his hands together like he was ready to get some dirty work done. 

Steve grinned at his success and with Bucky’s assistance put the tree in its stand. "First things first. We have to put on the lights." 

Around fifteen minutes later, they had run out of lights, the tree barely looked lit because apparently it had the magic ability to _swallow_ lights and Bucky kept getting distracted trying to hang up ornaments. The sight of Bucky insistently trying to put up ornaments would have been adorable under any other circumstances, but Steve was just thinking of how sad their tree looked barely lit up. 

"We're getting more lights. Let's go," Steve said, grabbing Bucky's hand and dragging him over to the front door. 

"Stevie, its _fine_. It doesn't need more lights." Bucky said, making sure the blonde knew he thought he was being stupid. 

"Really?" To demonstrate his point, Steve turned off all the lights in the house and then plugged in the Christmas lights of the tree. The tree barely even shone in the darkness of the living room. He gave another look towards Bucky and this time Bucky did not have anything to say back. Steve won yet again. 

Together they got in their car and went to the store to buy Christmas lights. The cashier didn't even blink twice when the two men purchased a total of fifteen boxes of lights. To be fair, not all of them were for the tree and some of them were actually to hang out of the house. Once their purchase had been made, they drove straight home where they resumed putting up the lights. 

The moment Steve felt sufficiently satisfied with the illumination of the tree, he grinned over at Bucky. The dark haired man smiled slightly and bumped his shoulder with Steve's. "Finally, the moment you have been waiting for has arrived! Time to put up the ornaments!" 

Steve dutifully opened the plastic box full of ornaments and began to dig out his favorites and put them up on the tree. Silently, but obviously excitedly, Bucky began choosing ornaments and hanging them up. He seemed happier than he had since they started the whole process of getting a tree and Steve couldn't help but feel proud. _He'd_ accomplished that. He'd managed to get Bucky happy about this.

Feeling genuinely happy and pleased with himself, Steve began to softly sing along to the music playing. Bucky joined in only a few seconds later and soon the two of them got lost in what they were doing. It was only sometime later that Steve decided to take a few steps back to inspect the work they had accomplished on the tree. When he did, he noticed that Bucky had pretty much hung similar looking ornaments all close to each other and nearly hanging off the branches. Steve wasn't sure if to laugh or roll his eyes at Bucky's failed attempt to decorate. 

"What?" Bucky said defensively, probably noticing that Steve was alternating between two different emotions as he watched the tree. 

"Babe, are you sure you know what you're doing there?" Steve said with laughter in his voice. He pointed at the section of the tree that Bucky had been decorating. Steve hadn't even noticed that Bucky hadn't moved around the tree to properly disperse the ornaments. 

Bucky walked over to where Steve stood and stared at the tree. He then narrowed his eyes and slapped Steve on the arm. He stuck his tongue out at Steve and said, "I have no idea what you see wrong. It looks perfectly fine to me." 

He said the words, but as soon as Steve started laughing he walked over to the tree and began to take off some of the ornaments. Steve tried to keep his laughter in check, but he couldn't when Bucky was pouting so adorably. His brow was furrowed and his plush bottom lip was sticking out and it was all just too much for Steve to handle. 

Still laughing, he walked over to Bucky and wrapped his arms around the other man's waist. He kissed the back of Bucky's head and tried to hold back his laugh. 

"Laugh all you want, punk. As if this isn't exactly what you wanted," Bucky mumbled, sounding adorably grumpy. 

Steve barked out another laugh and pressed a loud kiss to Bucky's cheek. "This is even better than what I had planned."


	2. Step Two: Make delicious hot chocolate with marshmallows for you and your lover.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which hot chocolate with marshmallows is made.

Bucky lay close to the Christmas tree, holding a well-worn paperback, reading under the irregular illumination of the tree lights. He had his hair up in a haphazardly made bun and he wore only a pair of sweatpants. He'd been in that same position for the last hour and a half. The only thing that changed from five minutes before was that Steve wasn't lying beside him anymore.

The blonde got up to head to the kitchen. He'd bought some hot chocolate from the store but hadn't gotten around to making it. With that idea in mind, he looked for the bar of chocolate he'd bought. He knew he could have easily gotten the hot chocolate in powder form but it wouldn't have felt the same. He looked for some milk and a cooking pot to get started. 

He started humming a random song as he got to work and was like that for some time. Once the chocolate was melted and the hot chocolate looked perfect, he poured some into two huge mugs. Both mugs had been gifts from Clint last year. Bucky's said 'The Jerk' and Steve's said 'The Punk'. Bellow each of the words was a picture of Bucky and Steve, respectively, grinning as goofily as both men could muster. Steve wasn't sure where Clint had ordered them (or where he had found those pictures in the first place), but he didn't really care. He secretly loved the mugs. Steve and Bucky used them all the time, not that they would admit that to Clint. 

He looked for the bag of mini marshmallows he'd bought along with the bar of chocolate and threw a bunch of them into their mugs. He grinned at his own accomplishment and grabbed both mugs to walk over to where Bucky lay near the tree. He nudged Bucky's leg with his foot and the dark haired man looked up sharply. His expression softened when he saw Steve holding two mugs and he quickly sat up. He folded the corner of the page he left off in and threw the book aside. He reached up for his mug expectantly and with a tiny grin taking form on his lips. 

Steve handed Bucky's mug over and sat down beside him. He saw clearly when Bucky's smile turned into a slight frown when he stared down at the contents of the mug. Bucky then turned his gray eyes confusedly over at Steve. "Why does this have marshmallows?" 

"Don't question why it has marshmallows. Question why it _hasn't_ had marshmallows before. Try it," Steve said, making an encouraging gesture with his own mug in hand. To prove his point furthermore, Steve took a sip of his hot chocolate and made sure to take in a marshmallow. The hot chocolate was so hot the marshmallow melted into yummy goodness in Steve's mouth. 

Steve sighed contentedly and looked at Bucky encouragingly. Bucky seemed skeptical, but still chose to give it a try. Steve looked at him hopefully, sure the other man would love it, but what he saw next crushed his spirits. Bucky took a sip and a few seconds afterward squeezed his eyes tight and shuddered. He shook his head violently and handed the mug over to Steve. Steve did not accept the mug and just stared at it strangely.

"What the fuck is that, Steve? That tastes horrible!" Bucky said, looking at the mug as if it had committed a terrible crime against humanity. His eyes then fell back on Steve and looked at him like he thought the blonde was insane. 

"Are you bein' serious right now? Did you really not like it? Marshmallows with hot chocolate is the perfect combination! A match made in heaven! What is _wrong_ with you?" Steve asked, not comprehending how what he was currently going through with Bucky could be possible. Marshmallows with hot chocolate were perfect! Who in the world didn't like marshmallows with their hot chocolate? Apparently only Bucky felt that way. It didn't make any sense to Steve. 

"What's wrong with _me_ , Stevie? That's horrible! You ruined hot chocolate! And now I want more, but there's none ready without marshmallows." Bucky shuddered when he said the last word and set down the mug in his hands on the floor like just touching it repulsed him more than anything else. 

Steve pouted and grabbed Bucky's mug. He got to his feet, feeling indignant but still convinced about making this a good Christmas memory for Bucky, and said, "You're lucky I made more hot chocolate than what we were supposed to need. I'll be back." 

Steve headed back into the kitchen and poured the hot chocolate in Bucky's mug into another mug and rinsed out Bucky's mug to put what was left of the hot chocolate Steve had made. He put the mug in the microwave to warm up the liquid a bit and then took it out and headed back to the living room with his mug and Bucky's in hand. Sticking his tongue out at Bucky like a silly child, he handed the other man the mug. 

Bucky accepted the mug gratefully and then patted the space beside him so that Steve took the spot beside him once more. Steve did so and took another gulp from his mug. He groaned contentedly and shut his eyes briefly in a sign of happiness. He could feel Bucky's eyes on him and smiled over at the other man. Bucky settled closer to Steve, the lights of the tree reflecting on his skin and changing the tone of his skin, and rested his head on Steve's shoulder. He took another sip from his mug and nodded approvingly. " _This_ is good hot chocolate. _Not_ whatever monstrosity you offered me." 

Steve decided to just laugh and shake his head in disagreement with Bucky's statement. He moved his head so he could press a kiss to the top of Bucky's head and said, "Whatever you say, Buck. Just drink your hot chocolate." 

Bucky absently grabbed at Steve's shirt and balled up gently some of the material in his hand. He tugged at it softly and said, "You shouldn't worry so much about making me happy. I'm already happier than I thought I could be." 

"Of course I worry about making you happy. This is the first time things are so calm around this season. I want to take advantage of that," Steve said back, staring down at Bucky's hand clutching his shirt. It was his metal hand. Steve still remembered when Bucky had been skeptical of Steve's acceptance of the metal limb. It had never really bothered Steve. It was a part of Bucky, _his_ Bucky, and he wouldn't change it for anything. Bucky could have been missing the limb completely without any sort of replacement and Steve still wouldn't have cared in the least. The only "complication" with it was that it got incredibly cold and it sometimes startled Steve. Steve was just happy Bucky was over it all now. 

Bucky looked up at Steve and smiled at him genuinely. He cupped Steve's cheek and gave the blonde a soft peck on the lips. "Thanks for _everything_ , Stevie. I _mean_ it." 

"It's really nothing, Buck. I just do everything to see you smile at me even if just for a second." Steve usually wasn't into being such a sap, at least not with _words_ , but it felt important to say the words in that moment. 

"Stop it. You're going to make me blush. Grown men don't _blush_ , that's for teenagers," Bucky said, looking away from Steve and taking another gulp from his mug. 

Steve only smiled and kept drinking his hot chocolate. He watched the twinkling lights of the tree play across their skin and smiled. Steve really was happy. Everything he needed to be happy was sitting beside him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Forgot to mention that the chapters in this fic are inspired by the Christmas AU's in [this](http://vacuumchan.tumblr.com/post/133720063137/zachabooty-blakesmilitia-im-always-a-slut) tumblr post.


	3. Step Three: Knit an ugly and horribly festive sweater for your lover.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Steve makes Christmas sweaters for Bucky and himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Steve made a simpler version of [this](http://www.tipsyelves.com/gingerbread-ugly-christmas-sweater) sweater for himself. Steve made a simpler version of [this](http://www.tipsyelves.com/mens-sloth-sweater) sweater for Bucky.

Steve started to think of this part of his plan a full year ago. It was the most complicated part of the whole plan. Mostly it was complicated because to accomplish it he needed to learn how to _knit_. He knew he could have asked someone else to make it for him, he sure knew a few people who would have done him the favor, but that wasn't the _point_. He wanted to make Bucky a sweater with his own _two hands_. If he didn't make it, then it was like cheating. Steve was not a cheater. 

Therefore, Steve asked Sam to teach him how to knit. He didn't even have to scheme Sam into teaching him. The other man had been trying to get Steve into it since they _met_. Sam said it was very therapeutic and helped the mind focus on something else. Steve didn't _disagree_ with that, he just felt like he didn't have the _time_ to pick up a hobby like _knitting_. It wasn't a practical hobby. It wouldn't help him in anything. He already had a hobby and that was art. He loved making sketches and full out drawings of people and buildings. He found _that_ therapeutic. So, for quite a few years Steve rejected Sam's polite offer. 

One year ago, he accepted it only so he could learn how to make a sweater. Technically speaking, he wanted to make one for Bucky _and_ himself, but that really wasn't the point. The point was that he asked Sam for help and Sam more than gladly took up the assignment of teaching Steve. When Steve had first started to learn it had been a huge mess. He couldn't figure out for the life of him how to hold the needles and by the time he learned how to do _that_ , he got confused on how to _move_ them. It wasn't that it was incredibly hard to _move_ , it was that his _hands_ kept getting in the way. The first month of Sam trying to teach Steve how to knit was an uphill battle. After that month, though, things flowed much more easily. 

Thanks to having started out one full year before and having told Sam what his plan was, he'd nearly finished the sweater for Bucky. The reason it had taken him so long was that _life_ kept getting in the way. Saving the world, that sort of thing. Since life began to get in the way, he chose a couple of months before December to begin knitting the sweater for himself alongside the sweater for Bucky. Now, fully into December, Steve finally had more free time in his hands and he was able to fast track the knitting of the sweaters. He was sure that by now he had made plenty of mistakes knitting the sweaters, but it didn't look _that_ bad. It looked _intentionally_ bad, like it was Steve's _point_ to make it so terrible. For the most part, he made that intentional. 

One thing was sure, though, it would look like an ugly Christmas sweater, but Steve made sure it would be soft as hell. He wanted the horrible abomination to have at least one upside. On another note, most of Steve's knitting took place in the room in the house which Bucky inexplicably didn't go into. The knitting had started out in their apartment back in Manhattan while Bucky slept or while Bucky was out of the apartment, but they weren't in that apartment now. They got this other house in Detroit to have a change, so they could be somewhere different. It wasn't exactly to get away from the Avengers that they bought the house. The main reason was so they could feel like they had some distance from _all of that_. The Avengers were all more than welcome at their house. Now that everything had been sorted out between them neither Bucky nor Steve had any problems with them coming over. The two of them just liked the idea of having a house where things just seemed calmer and looked different. _Home_ was still mostly their apartment, but the house was pretty good too. 

Steve still wasn't sure why Bucky didn't go into that room in the house where Steve knitted, but he took advantage of it. As of that moment, Bucky was over in their room watching yet another disgustingly sweet Christmas movie from the Hallmark channel and Steve just needed a break from it. Not just that, he needed a break and he needed to finish working on their sweaters so he could give one to Bucky already. 

He fished his phone out of his pocket and looked for his earphones. Once he found them and put them on, he started listening to music and kept on working on the sweater in his hands. He was thankful for the lack of interruptions. Bucky was too engrossed in his Christmas movie watching to interrupt Steve and that was more than a relief to the blonde.

**{ * * * * * * * * }**

It took Steve nearly two more weeks to finish the sweaters. He was just happy and proud of himself for making them. He spent many hours in a row knitting so he could finish them on time and he finished them because thankfully he didn’t tire easily when he was knitting. He also finished them on time because he always felt very much at ease when he was knitting. He only took breaks from knitting when Bucky would knock on the door of the room and groan about how Steve had been spending too much time in there. It wasn't like Bucky was _wrong_. Which was why the moment Steve finished making the sweaters, he reemerged from the room with a goofy grin on his face. He determined to give the sweater to Bucky in a few hours. First, he needed to convince Bucky to _leave_ the house later in the evening and then he had to put the sweater in a box to give it to Bucky.

He walked out of the room which he had never officially forbidden Bucky to walk into and headed in the direction of where he heard the TV on. He wasn't surprised to find Bucky in the living room, under about three different kinds of blankets, watching another Christmas movie. Thankfully the one playing wasn't from the Hallmark channel. Steve wasn't sure if it was equally as cheesy, but he sat down beside Bucky on the couch. He poked the dark haired man's side and motioned toward the blankets. Bucky smirked and said, "Has your Highness decided to grace me with your presence? What have I done to deserve such a gift bestowed upon me?" 

He said the words, but he still pulled the blankets back so that Steve could nestle close to him and he could wrap them both in the warmth of them. Steve smiled when he got accepted into the comfort of the blankets and absently reached for Bucky's hand. He didn't hesitate when the first one he found was the metal hand and he gave it a soft squeeze. Bucky rolled his eyes, but squeezed back. 

"I finished what I was making. That's why I have decided to bestow the gift of my presence upon a peasant like you," Steve said, playing along with what Bucky had said. 

"Punk," Bucky said, but he was already shifting his body so that he could bury his face in Steve's neck. Once he had successfully moved enough, he buried his face in the crook of Steve's neck and took a deep breath. Steve chuckled softly and wrapped his arms around Bucky's waist so that when he lay down on the couch he brought Bucky along with him. The dark haired man did not complain and simply let himself be shifted until Steve lay flat on the couch and Bucky on top of the blonde. Bucky shifted only slightly so that he could still have his face buried in Steve's neck and whispered, "I missed you." 

"I haven't _left_. I was in this very same house. Only difference is that I was keeping my sanity by not watching those horrible movies you love watching again and again," Steve said, hands moving to Bucky's head so he could gently massage the other man's scalp. 

Bucky laughed at Steve's words and then nearly purred as Steve kept massaging the top of his head. The dark haired man puffed out a breath of defeat and rested his head on Steve's chest. He then moved his head so he could still watch the movie playing on the TV while the blonde worked his magic. Still, in an apparent move to make sure the blonde did not stop, he said, "Don't you dare stop doing that. It feels amazing." 

"Wasn't planning on it, Buck," Steve said, resuming his work and turning to face the screen of the TV. He knew he should bring up both of them leaving the house later, that had been the whole point of him joining Bucky on the couch, but now that he was there he just wanted to enjoy the moment. He kept kneading the tips of his fingertips into Bucky's scalp until the other man was putty in his hands. He then pressed a kiss to the top of Bucky's head when he realized the dark haired man had fallen asleep. 

At some point, Steve fell asleep where he was on the couch with Bucky on top of him. When he woke up, Bucky was already awake. He had not moved an inch, but he spoke up the second he felt Steve shift beneath him. "I'm hungry. We should go out for pie and coffee." 

"If mom heard ya' talkin' 'bout gettin' pie that wasn't homemade she would disinherit us. She's probably just decided to haunt us for the rest of time by just _hearing_ you say those words," Steve said jokingly, already half sitting up to get ready to leave the house. 

"She'll forgive us. Right, Sarah?" Bucky spoke to the surrounding air as if it would respond in the voice of Steve's mom. Bucky then turned to Steve and grinned. "She said she'd forgive us just this once." 

Steve snorted as he tried to hold back a laugh and delicately pushed Bucky off of him. He then got to his feet and stretched out for a few seconds before looking back at Bucky. "Go get changed. I already know where I'm taking us." 

Bucky jumped to his feet and disappeared towards their room. Steve, on the other hand, went to the room where his and Bucky's sweaters were. He made sure to put Bucky's sweater in a box with a big red bow and then slipped on his own sweater and put on a coat over it and buttoned it up so that Bucky wouldn't be able to see the sweater. Steve then stepped out of the house and went over to the car to stash the box in the trunk. After he had done that, he rushed into the house where he picked up his scarf and lazily wrapped it around his neck. 

Bucky stepped out of their room a few seconds later and stared disapprovingly at the mess Steve had made of his scarf. The scarf was, unsurprisingly, striped with red, white and blue and at both ends it had a big white star. It had been a gift from Bucky. He'd shown up one day with it and had given to Steve. All he'd said was that it made him think of Steve. Of course, Steve had accepted the gift more than gladly and used it at every opportunity he got. 

Bucky straightened out the scarf so that now it was loser around Steve's neck, but didn't look like it had been haphazardly thrown there. Once he made sure Steve was all straightened out, he took a step away from Steve and toward the door. "Let's go. I'm starving. Our pie is waiting." 

Steve didn't argue against that and together both men stepped out of the house and Steve locked the door behind them. They got in the car and Steve drove them to a nearby bakery. It was open till pretty late and the few employees that worked there were all always incredibly sweet. Steve got there in under ten minutes and found a parking spot nearly as quickly. He popped the trunk and fished out the box from the back. He held it with his right hand and then walked over to Bucky. He reached out for the dark haired man's hand and the other didn't hesitate to intertwine their fingers together. Steve was sure Bucky had noticed the box, but he didn't comment on it. 

Together they stepped into the bakery and the young woman working there, whom Steve thought could be no older than twenty, beamed at them. She had her bright ginger hair up in a ponytail at the back of her head and she wore a hair net over it and a bright red cap over that. She easily slid over to where customers were supposed to order and said, "What can I get you boys tonight?" 

"Pie," Bucky said immediately and then corrected himself. "A slice of cherry pie and a coffee." 

"What about you, Steve?" she asked, focusing her big and warm brown eyes on the blonde. 

He looked up at the small board that read everything they had available, but Bucky spoke for him. "He'll have a slice of apple pie and a coffee. He always chooses apple pie. I don't even know why he thinks about it so much." 

"Coming right up. Just sit down where you like and I'll bring you everything once the coffee is ready and charge you when you're done," she said brightly, offering them another pearly white smile. 

Steve nodded and led Bucky over to a vacant table. The small bakery was completely empty, but he still chose a table where they could stare out the big glass windows. Snow was falling idly outside, melting before it even hit the pavement. The two men spent some time just doing this in companionable silence, but eventually Bucky spoke up. 

"What have ya' got there, Stevie?" Bucky asked, pointing at the box which Steve was still holding. The blonde stared down at it suddenly, for a moment having forgotten it was even there, and then shook his head. 

"I'm not giving it to you yet. After we eat, then I'll give it to you," Steve said, not meeting Bucky's eyes and simply resuming his observation of the snow trickling down outside. Everything looked perfect for a sketch. For a moment, Steve was disappointed that he had not brought his sketch pad with him. The sight outside was just beautiful, he wanted to burn it into his memory forever. This moment, these quiet few minutes with Bucky, were one of Steve's most peaceful. It made him want to take in a huge gulp of crisp air and exhale it happily. 

"You have your 'I am a complete sap' face on. What are you thinking?" Bucky asked, reaching over the table for Steve's hands. The blonde let the other man intertwine their fingers, but didn't look at him for a few seconds. When he did, he was sure he was seconds away from starting to cry like the totally smitten and in love idiot he was. 

"I'm thinking that this is all I have ever wanted. This, right now. It's all I've wished to have with you. Just being together without the whole world falling apart around us. I didn't think I could be this happy in _peace_ , without a problem to solve or fight off," Steve said genuinely, blue eyes bright and sincere. 

Bucky smiled slightly, mostly to himself, and brought up Steve's hands to his lips. He kissed the back of each hand and said, "I knew you were going all mushy on me. How am I supposed to get used to going back to things _not_ being this calm?" 

"Shh. Let's pretend things will stay this calm forever. I like this, living in oblivion, it's soothing," Steve said, giving Bucky's fingers a squeeze and then staring out the window once again. He kept hoping he'd brought his sketch pad. 

"Whatever you want, Stevie," Bucky said, eyes shifting over to the young employee who was walking over to them. Bucky let go of Steve's hands, but only so the girl could put their plates and mugs of coffee on the table. 

She beamed at them gladly and set everything down on the table. Her eyes twinkled as she said, "Enjoy!" 

"Thanks, Christie," Steve said, offering the young woman an equally bright smile. She blushed slightly and scurried off toward the back of the counter. Already another customer was walking into the small bakery. 

Steve focused back on his pie and without much of a ceremony began to eat. Bucky followed suit and the two of them ate in mostly silence. Once they had devoured their respective pies, Steve picked up his cup of coffee and began to drink as he absently toyed with the spoon in his hand. He even began to drum it against the table without even really thinking about it. He drummed it along to the rhythm of Joy to the World and began to hum to himself. 

At some point, it could have been seconds or minutes afterward, Bucky got annoyed by all the noise Steve was making. He took hold of Steve's wrist which held the spoon and gave Steve a _look_ , raising an eyebrow. Steve grinned cheekily, but let go of the spoon and stopped humming. He took the last sip of coffee he had left and took the box he had on his lap and handed it to Bucky. 

"Open it. You'll laugh at what's inside," Steve said, still smiling but clutching the cup he'd been handed in his hands so he had something to do. 

Bucky looked at Steve suspiciously and opened the box carefully as if there might be a bomb or live animal inside it. He seemed to grow even more skeptical when he didn't see anything jump out immediately at him. He gingerly moved aside the white tissue paper and kept looking up at Steve before he even truly focused on the item inside. 

"Will you just take it out? You're making me anxious which is stupid," Steve exclaimed, pushing the box closer to Bucky's chest. 

Bucky sighed dramatically and pulled out the sweater from the box. He then looked at it in wide-eyed mild horror and then back at Steve. The blonde was already grinning from ear to ear. The sweater horror was a big red and green terror with a small sloth smiling lazily with a Santa hat at the top of its head. The sloth was smack in the middle of the sweater. It wasn't even so ugly it was cute, it was just ugly. Bucky looked between the sweater and then Steve. "Please tell me you haven't been locked in that room making this abomination." 

"Not just _that_ abomination, but this one too," Steve said and then opened up his coat so that the sweater underneath could be seen. This one, too, was a green and red abomination. In the center was a gingerbread man screaming in horror while he looked up. Steve was grinning victoriously like he'd just given Bucky the most amazing gift in existence. 

"You're gonna make me put on this horror fest, aren't you?" Bucky said seriously, but already a smile was tugging at the corner of his lips. 

"Of course. It's not Christmas until you have an ugly sweater on! Go change," Steve said, pointing in the direction of the bathroom in the bakery. Bucky didn't even bother to complain. He just gave Steve a look that was a mix of 'I love you' and 'You're an idiot'. 

The other customers that had gone in had already left, so Steve clearly heard the giggle of the employee working. Steve turned to look at her and puffed out his chest so the sweater was in full view. "What'da ya' think?" 

She giggled again, cheeks turning bright pink as she tried to hold back a full laugh and look like a respectable employee. "Did you seriously make that sweater and the other one?" 

"Of course. I think it was more than worth it," he said, looking down at himself so he could inspect his handiwork. It really was an ugly sweater. He loved it. 

Bucky came out of the bathroom a few seconds afterward wearing his sweater. He looked down at it and shook his head. He stepped closer to Steve and observed the blonde's sweater and shook his head some more. He was grinning by now, a real and genuine grin, and Steve wanted to kiss him. He'd won a genuine grin from Bucky, that's all he wanted to accomplish. 

Bucky grabbed the ends of Steve's scarf which was now just lazily draped around his shoulders and pulled the blonde closer. He stopped applying pressure on the scarf when their foreheads touched. He whispered, "You're a fucking dork." 

"I don't care," Steve said, smiling and already with his lips trying to break out into a grin. 

"Punk," Bucky whispered, but there wasn't any heat in the word. 

"Jerk," Steve said, nearly grinning now. Bucky didn't say anything back and just tugged harder on Steve's scarf to bring the blonde's lips to his. Steve couldn't help but smile against Bucky's lips and Bucky resisted the urge to roll his eyes. He closed his eyes and simply pulled Steve closer so he could deepen the kiss. 

Steve pecked Bucky's lips before things could go too far and pulled back. "Are you sure you want to give Christie a show?" 

"I don't think she'd mind," Bucky said cheekily, throwing that dazzling smile of his in the direction of the employee. 

The young woman blushed scarlet and looked away. She walked over to the cash register, cheeks red, the blush making her ears turn bright red and her chest splotch with pink. "You owe me $11.45." 

"We give this poor soul a show and _we_ are the ones that gotta pay. What has this world come to?" Bucky said teasingly, a sly grin on his lips. 

She was positively as red as a tomato in that moment. She kept giving Bucky furtive glances and then staring back at the cash register when she noticed he still had that smile on his lips. Steve figured she was probably freaked out by how good Bucky looked smiling. He was sure the dark haired man had never grinned when he was inside the bakery. 

"Don't worry, Christie. I'll take him outta ya' hands so he doesn't cause you a heart attack," Steve said, also grinning. 

Christie looked like she was about to pass out from all the blood that had rushed to her face.


	4. Step Four: Set up a baking competition between your friends and make sure your lover wins.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which a sugar cookie baking competition is held.

Steve set up this part of his plan with the help of Tony. He'd called the other man the first day of December so that he could arrange the location of where their sugar cookie baking competition would be held. He knew that Tony would not fail him in picking a location. It was because of this that Steve trusted that portion of the plan to Tony. What he had not been expecting was for Tony to take so long in telling him _where_ the baking competition would be and on what day. He tried to be patient in waiting for the other man, but it didn't pan out. 

When the twenty first of December rolled around, Steve was ready to begin harassing Tony. Bucky, of course, was completely oblivious to what was going on in Steve's head, but he clearly knew _something_ was up. Steve lay on the foot of their bed, staring up at the ceiling, and was just about to reach out for his phone to check it for the millionth time. Both men knew it had not rung or pinged or vibrated or anything that indicated anyone was trying to reach him. 

Bucky groaned, exasperated, and gently kicked Steve on his side. He drawled out in annoyance, "Stop iiiit."

"What?" the blonde said defensively, drawing his hand back from where it perched near his phone and looking in Bucky's direction. He tried to look like he was completely oblivious as to why the dark haired man was irritated, but he knew why. 

Bucky sent him a stern look and then threw a pillow in Steve's direction and then stared back at the screen of the TV in their room. Steve easily caught the pillow and then threw it aside. The blonde stared up at the ceiling once more and said childishly, "I haven't done anything wrong." 

Steve then reached again for his phone as if they both didn't know it had not given a single sign of life. Bucky actually _growled_ in frustration and crawled over to where Steve lay on their bed. He took the phone forcibly from Steve's hand, and in Steve’s opinion without a single thought of being gentle at all, and shoved it into one of the drawers in their nightstand. He then crawled back toward Steve and then over him until he was hovering above the blonde and could sit on him if he so wished to. The dark haired man settled down on Steve's lower abdomen, clearly making a point of sitting as close as he could to the other man's crotch without actually sitting on it, and stared down at Steve. The blonde was well aware of what Bucky was trying to do, but nevertheless the blonde couldn’t resist. The other man knew him well and knew how hard it was for Steve to ignore him if he was that close. For a moment, a span of exactly three seconds, Bucky’s plan to distract him worked. He focused all his attention on Bucky and for that short moment the phone and its importance were forgotten. 

The blonde saw as Bucky almost smiled in victory because he thought he had succeeded in distracting him, but then he looked in the direction of the nightstand that held his phone captive. Bucky let out a small growl once more and made a point of pressing his body down against Steve's, but kept his face hovering above the blonde's. As if to show Steve that he wasn’t about to give up on getting him to stop paying attention to his phone and focus on _him_ for a change, while also making sure the blonde was well aware that he was frustrated with Steve's obsession with his phone, Bucky began to tenderly run his fingers through Steve's blonde locks. Just that movement, one smooth and slow run of Bucky’s fingers through Steve’s hair got the attention of the blonde. Steve zeroed in his brilliant blue eyes on the man above him. He stared at every inch of skin of Bucky's face as he felt the fingers of the other man in his hair. The fingers of Bucky’s flesh hand were focused on tugging and running smoothly over the longest section of Steve’s hair which wasn't exactly a fringe, but was longer than the rest of his hair. For a while, the dark haired man seemed to get slightly distracted as he did this, his fingers tender and sweet and more relaxing than anything else in the world for the blonde, but then Steve saw a sickly sweet smile take shape on Bucky's lips. 

Bucky didn't say anything, to Steve's utter surprise for he had been expecting to hear a threat concealed in a sweet tone, and instead tightened his grip slightly on Steve's hair and gave it a not so completely gentle yank so that Steve's neck was exposed. The dark haired man's grin became devilish when Steve didn’t put up any resistance and he leaned down to press a tantalizing kiss on the corner of Steve’s mouth. The blonde could feel a puff of breath as the other man tried not to laugh and then Bucky pressed a kiss to Steve's chin. Steve tried to move, to take hold of Bucky and give him a proper kiss, but Bucky only tightened his grip on the blonde’s hair and began to slowly make a trail of kisses across the blonde's jaw until he was squirming underneath Bucky, bursting with the need to take charge of the situation. Bucky tightened his hold on the blonde’s hair for a moment, just to make a point to Steve, and then kept his tantalizing trail of kisses downward slow and agonizing. Once he reached where the blonde's neck connected to his shoulder, Steve was more than ready to just roll Bucky beneath him and eat him alive.

Steve’s plan didn't work out. As soon as Bucky made a move as if he was going to nibble the blonde man's earlobe, he sharply moved his face in front of Steve's and the sickeningly sweet smile returned to his lips. Steve then knew he had to prepare himself for whatever his pissed off boyfriend had to say. "If you don't stop reaching or searching out your phone, I'm not going to let you fuck me until the new year starts. And that doesn't mean we'll be back to it on January first. I can keep it in my pants longer than that." 

"You bluff!" Was Steve's automatic response because what else did you say to the man you loved whom you'd gotten back only a couple of years before and you hadn't even known where you stood when you were first reunited? He knew he wasn't about to get deprived of _one single night_ with Bucky. Fuck no. He was _done_ with that. He had Bucky back now, _really_ had him back, and he wasn't about to throw away the privileges that entailed. The pleasure of fucking him _whenever_ he wanted _however_ he wanted being one of them. 

Bucky challenged Steve by raising an eyebrow and said, "Stevie, I'm not fucking around. You're seriously pissing me off." 

Steve quite literally deflated underneath Bucky as he puffed out a breath of resignation. He sighed dramatically and then slowly placed his hands on Bucky's hips. He forced his blue eyes to stare down at where his hands were and then grabbed the material of the dark haired man's shirt. He tugged on Bucky's t-shirt and said, without looking at the other man, "Okay, Buck. Whatever you want." 

Bucky grinned slyly and leaned so that his face was closer to Steve's and their noses could touch. He nuzzled his nose against Steve's, apparently because he couldn't help himself when it came to the blonde, and said, "Good. That's what I like to hear, punk." 

Steve rolled his eyes and balled up Bucky's t-shirt in his hands and pulled him closer. The blonde crushed their lips together hard enough that their teeth actually knocked against each other and let out an audible _clack_ and laughed when Bucky said, "Punk." 

"Jerk," Steve whispered back, but then pulled Bucky closer to him again. He let his knuckles absently brush against the skin of Bucky's toned abdomen and tried not to let out a sigh full of bliss and happiness. This was all he wanted, every day, all the time. 

The dark haired man buried his fingers in Steve's blonde hair and let out a sound of contentedness as their lips slid against each other easily. They had relearned all the ways to make each other fall apart under each other's fingertips, but they never got tired of it. It never got old. They just wanted more and more until they couldn't think, couldn't even fucking move because they were so spent. 

Steve unfalteringly slipped his hands underneath the waistband of Bucky's sweatpants, unsurprised to find that was all the other man wore, and pulled the other man flush against him. Bucky groaned, his hands already leaving Steve's hair so they could reach for the blonde's shirt, but his movements were cut short when Steve's phone began to chime with an onslaught of text messages. 

Steve deftly, without even thinking about it, rolled them both until Bucky lay pinned beneath him and he was nearly straddling the other man's lap as he reached over to the nightstand to pull out his phone from the drawer. Bucky literally _whined_ , loud and needy and distracting, and rolled up his hips in anticipation and annoyance. Steve ignored him, but just barely. The blonde unlocked his phone and looked at the new messages he had. 

Tony had finally sent the coordinates of where their baking competition would be held. All the others had already agreed to drive there and meet up in about forty minutes. Steve typed in the coordinates into his GPS and found that it was a thirty minute drive from their house. Steve beamed at the screen of his phone and typed out a quick message. 

**We're getting ready now. Meet you all there.**

**Also. Remember Bucky needs to win.**

The blonde received an onslaught of 'yeses' in response to that. 

Steve easily climbed off of Bucky and rolled out of bed like they hadn't just been interrupted while they were in the middle of something. The dark haired man picked up a pillow and pretended to smother himself with it. He then said, "Where the hell are you going? And why are whatever messages you got more important than _fucking me_?" 

Steve walked over to their closet and looked for another set of clothes that he wouldn't be upset about getting flour or pretty much anything else on them. He even picked out something for Bucky and threw it in his direction. "Get changed, Buck. We're meeting the others and we need to get on the road." 

The dark haired man caught the clothes in his hands and looked at the blonde strangely. He stared down at the clothes and then back at Steve. His facial expression showed genuine confusion and annoyance. "Are you really just going to leave me hanging? You're a dick." 

"Get over it. We're going to have fun," Steve said, already having changed clothes. He walked over to where Bucky still lay on the bed, but now on his stomach, and pecked the lips of the other man.

Bucky hooked a finger into one of the loops in Steve's jeans and gave it a tug before he said, "I doubt it's going to be more fun than what we started here." 

Steve chuckled and pecked Bucky's lips again. He ran his fingers through Bucky's hair, nearly getting distracted by the silkiness of the long and dark strands, and then replied, "Go get changed, Buck. We can't be late." 

Bucky sighed, resigned, and got to his feet. He didn't even bother to step into the bathroom, or their walking closet which was closer, to change. He made a point of stripping off in front of the blonde, just to spite him, and then put on the clothes Steve had chosen for him. Bucky smirked when he caught Steve staring, but the blonde just said, "You're worse than a little kid." 

Bucky smiled and took the few steps that separated him from Steve. He pulled the blonde close by the front of his shirt and kissed him slow and melting and hot. Bucky let his flesh hand wander downward and ghost over Steve's dick. Just when Steve was getting sidetracked, moving to press closer against Bucky's hand, Bucky bit down harshly on Steve's bottom lip and stepped back. He grinned victoriously when he saw a drop of scarlet appear on Steve's bottom lip. 

All he said as a manner of explanation was, "You deserve it, punk. I'm driving."

Steve didn't argue against him.

**{ * * * * * * * * }**

Steve wasn't used to not being the one driving. Still, he connected his phone to the car and started playing Pentatonix's Christmas album loudly. Bucky, thankfully, didn't complain. When he'd first gotten in the car he had a knowing smirk on his face, but eventually his lips turned into a smile and he began to hum along to the songs. Occasionally overlapping the music was the sound of directions from their GPS, but they both pretended like it wasn't much of a bother.

Exactly thirty minutes later, and at the precise hour they were supposed to meet up, Bucky pulled up in the location where they were supposed to meet the others. It seemed to be some sort of hotel or resort, but it was closed up. There were no other cars in the parking lot except for those familiar as belonging to The Avengers. Steve preferred to think that the place had closed down at least a year before and Tony just decided to buy it because he could. He preferred to think that over thinking that the other man had paid to close down the place for them, especially when it was so close to Christmas. It was probably the first option. Tony wasn't insane (or at least Steve hoped not). 

Steve got out of the car, making sure to have his phone with him, and walked over to Bucky's side. The dark haired man had already gotten out of the car and reached out a hand toward Steve. The blonde intertwined their fingers together and started leading them both to what seemed to be the entrance of the hotel. Bucky followed, but not before asking, "Why are we here, Stevie? Why are The Avengers here?"

"You'll see. C'mon, Buck. It's going to be fun. I promise," Steve said, pulling harder on Bucky's hand. Snow was falling outside, raining down thickly on the two men, and Steve wanted to get out of it. He wasn't really cold, but he hadn't exactly come all the way to the hotel to stand in the newly falling snow for more than absolutely necessary. 

They walked over to the front doors of the hotel and Steve tentatively pulled at one of them. It easily slid open and he shrugged and stepped inside. The second he stepped inside, he was slapped by the warmth of a heater that had been turned on in the building. He shrugged off his coat and when he looked back he noticed that Bucky was already doing the same thing. There was no one in the entrance waiting for them, but there was a coat rack overflowing with coats. Bucky and Steve added their own coats to the pile.

It turned out to be Bucky the one who noticed the arrow pointing to where they had to go. It was a green and red paper arrow that pointed right. Bucky looked back at Steve and said, "Guess that's our cue. Let's go." 

Steve could already tell Bucky was getting excited. He grinned at the other man and linked their fingers together once again. Bucky turned to face the blonde and offered up a smile before he began to run. Steve started to laugh as the other man forced them to run quickly and then made them come to a sudden stop as the arrow pointed in a direction different from the one they were originally headed in. 

Eventually, the two men found themselves inside a huge kitchen. All The Avengers and their partners were there. Christmas music was playing from somewhere, neither of the two men could figure out where it was coming from, but it was loud enough to listen to but not interrupt anyone's train of thought. Tony was the first person their eyes fell on, but mostly this was due to the fact that he stood bellow a banner that read "The Ultimate Bake Off: Prepare to Lose". Their eyes then fell on Pepper who stood beside Tony looking as poise as ever. She smiled warmly when she saw Steve and Bucky walk in and they mirrored her expression. 

"Look who finally decided to join us," Sam said, walking over to Steve and Bucky and giving them each a hug. Sam had a huge grin on his lips and he looked around at the kitchen proudly as if he had been the one to arrange the whole thing. 

"Are we seriously going to bake?" Bucky asked, eyes trained on the banner and then glancing around the kitchen. His eyes scanned over the whole room and the people in it and noticed the others were all dressed casually. They _seemed_ ready for a bake off. 

"I sure hope so because if not why the hell did I buy these?" Clint asked, suddenly walking in behind Steve and Bucky. He held a large box in his hands which he threw on top of the nearest flat surface. He opened the box with much ceremony and pulled out a bag full of _something_. 

All of them crowded around Clint and the box and peered at the contents to try to figure out what the contents were. Clint looked smug when he pulled out one of the things inside and it quickly became clear that it was an apron. He held it out pressed against his chest and beamed happily at what the personalized apron said. It read: Human Tin Man. He held the yellow apron out and said, "This one is yours, Tony." 

Tony took the apron from Clint's outstretched hand and shook his head. He put it on, though, because Pepper sent him a look that said he should humor Clint. She then asked in her sharp and clean tone, "Which one is mine?" 

Clint took this as his cue to hand out all the aprons (which also happened to be color coded according to the team the person belonged in). Steve couldn't have planned it better if he'd tried. He was glad he had friends that could turn a simple idea into something like this. 

Tony and Pepper were in the same team, their color being yellow, and Pepper's apron read 'The Boss'. No one questioned it. They knew it was true. Thor and Jane were in another team, their color being royal blue. Thor's apron read 'Not Your God' while Jane's read 'The Normal One'. Jane's apron was also extremely true. They all secretly agreed she was the only sane one out of all of them (Pepper not included in the group of the insane ones because she was _the boss_ and therefore obviously sane). Clint and Natasha were in another team and their color was white. Clint's apron read 'Bird Guy 1' while Natasha's apron read 'Sexiest Spider'. Sam and Bruce were in a team together and their color was green. Sam's apron read 'Bird Guy 2' while Bruce's apron read 'Raging Scientist'. Finally, Steve and Bucky were obviously in the same team and their color was red. Steve's apron read 'All American Boy' and Bucky's read 'The One Armed Menace'.

Bucky glared at Clint when he saw the apron, but it was a halfhearted stare. In a matter of seconds the glare fell apart and he started smiling. He put on the apron, tying it behind him and then slapped his hands loudly on the table before him. Everyone jumped slightly and he grinned mischievously at all of them, "Are you guys ready for me to beat your asses? I make the world's greatest sugar cookies. You don't stand a chance." 

The others smiled and said, "Oh, it's on."

"Let's get started then," Bucky said and walked over to the large cooler in the kitchen. Everyone ran after him. Steve, smartly, stayed in the kitchen and began to grab all the good appliances and put them in what he designated Bucky’s and his work station. 

Once the others reemerged from the cooler, they glared daggers at Steve when they found that he had hoarded the good appliances. The other appliances were just _fine_ , not bad ones because Tony didn't half ass things, but they still glared. Steve grinned victoriously and his smile turned wicked when Bucky walked over to his side and kissed his cheek. "You're brilliant." 

"I know. Now let's show these suckers how to make _proper_ sugar cookies," Steve said, turning his back on the others and grabbing some of the ingredients Bucky held. 

Bucky and Steve quickly set out to work and so did the others. Steve had made cookies before with Bucky, so the two of them worked easily together and around each other. As one of them set out to measure the ingredients, the other would pour the perfectly measured ingredients into the mixer. Like that, barely speaking unless they were asking for one ingredient or other, the two men worked. They were so efficient that they were the first to have their dough ready and divided neatly into two balls. They wrapped it in transparent cling wrap and Bucky scrawled with a marker on the wrap 'BUCKY'. He then took both labeled balls of dough and stored them in the fridge so they could chill. It had to be stored for two hours so Bucky then searched out the ingredients he needed for the icing. 

He returned to his and Steve's work station with the new ingredients required to make the icing, but found that Steve wasn't there. The blonde was off washing the dishes they had used. Bucky shrugged and began to look for other clean bowls to at least start out his work. He always made an icing that was to be lightly coated onto the sugar cookies and then a frosting that would be piped onto the cookies to draw the details of the cookies. Steve always did the last part because Bucky just couldn't no matter how hard he tried. He always ended up making either crooked lines or scary snowmen. He left the details to the only one in their duo that could _draw_. Sure, decorating a cookie wasn't the same as drawing a sketch, but they were relatively closely related. 

Bucky continued working and eventually Steve joined him. The blonde was singing along to the Christmas song playing (from wherever the speakers were) and Bucky joined him. The duo kept working that way, singing and watching over the mixer as it made the icing and then the frosting. Eventually both men were loudly singing along to the music without any sort of shame. 

"Someone save us from those mushy boyfriends," Tony said, looking back at the two men. 

"Already on it," Natasha called out and ran in the direction of Steve and Bucky. The two men began to run away from her without even knowing what she had in mind. 

"You can run, but you can't hide!" Sam said, glancing over his shoulder at the scene of the two men being chased by Natasha. He smiled to himself and shook his head before he went back to working on his dough with Bruce's help. 

As they ran, knocking down bowls and whisks and spatulas as they went, Steve bumped into Bucky and the two tumbled to the floor in a heap. Natasha let out a loud, "Ha!"

She crawled over the two men and dragged a palm down a single cheek of each man. There was sticky and gooey dough on her fingers. She laughed victoriously when she saw the two men shudder at the consistency of what she had slathered onto their cheeks. 

"What has the cookie dough ever done to you and Clint? What the hell have you done to it?" Bucky asked, touching his sticky cheek with a finger and staring at the consistency of it with an offended expression. 

He got to his feet and so did Steve right afterward. Natasha was already on her feet, sticky hands held out in front of her with a menacing smile on her lips. She did not respond to Bucky's question, but Clint did. "We're not quite sure what we're doing, but it does seem good for one thing." 

Before Steve or Bucky could give much thought to what that meant, Clint had turned around and thrown a mass of the gooey substance. Bucky ducked immediately, reflexes automatic, but Steve was not as smart. The 'dough' (it did not deserve to be called that) hit him smack on the mouth. Steve staggered back, stunned, and then his eyes narrowed in on the other blonde as he wiped his mouth as clean as he could. 

"Oh, it's on," Steve said, finally rolling up the sleeves of his long sleeved shirt. The blonde disappeared for a second and reappeared with a bag of flour. A few of them turned and saw the blonde with the bag and shook their heads. 

"Don't," Pepper said, but there was no force in the statement. 

Bucky reappeared from where he had disappeared, probably stowing away their icing and frosting, and he had a pipping bag in hand. He held the bag full of red frosting casually in his hand and looked at Steve. He smirked and said, "Are you ready?" 

"Fuck yes," Steve said, innocent smile turning into a mischievous grin. 

That was about the point where everybody started running. Bucky and Steve chased after them like two mad men. Steve kept throwing floor around, making the air thick with the white powder, and Bucky kept strategically using his icing to ruin everyone's clothing. When the icing ran out, he looked for the eggs. Steve laughed when he saw Bucky throwing around eggs and went to look for some himself. As he did this, the others armed themselves with ingredients also.

"Death to the super soldiers!" Thor cried out. The others let out a similar battle cry and true mayhem fell upon them. 

Ingredients were flying around everywhere. All of them kept crashing into one another and shouting and laughing and trying to kill each other with ingredients. Bucky and Steve had lost sight of each other somewhere along the fight, but they recognized the laughter of the other when they heard it. 

A full half hour passed before they all settled down. The food fight ended when Sam pointed out the obvious, "If we keep this going we won't have any ingredients to _finish_ our cookies." 

"To hell with that, I want to make sure all of you have to shower for at least two hours to get all this gunk out of your body and hair," Clint said, pouring the flour he had in his hand on top of Steve's head. He then massaged it into the blonde's scalp which already had two broken eggs in it. Clint succeeded in making Steve's hair a sticky and thick mess. 

"Well, I want to make cookies," Pepper said, getting to her feet where she had fallen on the floor and straightening out her apron. Her hair, which she had in a ponytail when they arrived, was disheveled and covered with sugar and egg shells. Even like that, Steve thought, she managed to look dignified. 

She looked over at where Tony stood and said, "Come on, Tony. We're finishing this." 

Tony didn't even think to argue. He walked over to where Pepper stood and they went off to try to finish their cookie dough. Slowly, the other Avengers dispersed across the kitchen to what used to be their work stations until Bucky and Steve stood on their own in the middle of the kitchen. 

Bucky walked over to Steve and wrapped his arms around Steve's waist. He looked up at the blonde and smiled. He looked genuinely happy then, covered in flower and sugar, frosting, and badly made cookie dough. Steve cupped Bucky's face in his hands, managing to stain the other man's cheeks with red food coloring, and tried to hold back a smile as he leaned down to kiss him. Bucky met him halfway and pressed his body flush against the blonde's. Steve ran his tongue over Bucky's bottom lip and couldn't help but laugh when he tasted sugar and flour. Bucky smacked his arm with his metal hand and grabbed the front of Steve's shirt to pull him closer. 

"Punk," Bucky whispered when he tried to kiss Steve again but the blonde just started to laugh harder. Bucky pouted, the ridiculous expression that always seemed to work on the blonde, but that just made the other man laugh even more. 

"Let's dance. I can't kiss you when you taste like happiness and joy. It's too intoxicating. It makes me unable to control my laughter," Steve said with a laugh caught in his words. His blue eyes were shining brightly and Bucky couldn't resist the request. 

"Fine, but I'm leading," he said, moving automatically to position them correctly. He easily fell into step to the beat of the music and Steve followed only slightly clumsily. 

As the music picked up speed, Bucky began to drag them both around in a ridiculous dance number. It was only a few seconds later that Steve began to laugh. The others turned to look at the pair and Clint called out, "Stop being so in love! It's making me sick to my stomach!" 

Surprisingly, Jane and Thor were the first to join Bucky and Steve on the "dance floor". The Asgardian god smiled genuinely at Jane and she smiled back. The two began to dance and Steve and Bucky's dance only became more absurd when they noticed the other couple. Bucky was having fun making them both look like idiots. It wasn't like it could make them look even more absurd than the flour, sugar, eggs and milk on them did. 

In the end, everyone but Bruce ended up dancing. Bruce disappeared to wherever the music could be controlled and turned up the volume. This only encouraged the group of friends to begin singing loudly to the songs and dancing around haphazardly. Their dancing only died down when Bucky realized the time. It was time to get the cookie dough out of the fridge. 

Bucky grabbed Steve's hand once more and together they went looking for the dough. Some of the Avengers remained dancing, but not Steve, Bucky, Pepper and Tony. They were serious about their baking (As they should be. It was a competition after all). The lot of them went to their own work stations and began to roll down their dough. Steve had already looked for the cookie cutters so he handed them over to Bucky. 

Bucky used up nearly all the dough, he only left out a small ball that was useless to make anything, and he put the trays full of cookies into the oven. He set up an alarm on his phone so that it would tell him when to take out the cookies and then made his way over to the blonde. He stood before Steve and grabbed the blonde’s arms and wrapped them around himself. Steve laughed and tightened his hold around Bucky and pressed a kiss to the top of the dark haired man's head. The hair was sticky and dirty, but Steve ignored it because he was no better. 

"They're going to love the cookies," Steve said, watching as his friends danced around in the kitchen. He saw Pepper put in her own trays of cookies in another oven and smiled. He sighed, holding on to Bucky even tighter, and loudly kissed Bucky's cheek. 

The blonde whispered, only loud enough for Bucky to hear, "I'm so happy, Buck. I haven't felt this happy in a long time. _This_ ," he pointed at their friends, "This is all I ever want. Happy and relaxed friends. Happy and relaxed boyfriend." 

Bucky leaned back against Steve and nodded. He absently ran a finger across the skin of Steve's arm and said, "I know. Having _this_ : baking, Christmas, friends, _you_. . . It's all better than I ever thought it could be. I didn't even know I _wanted_ it until now." 

Steve was even less interested in letting Bucky go after his words. He kept the other man on lock down against his body and said, "I told you we would have fun, babe. Hasn't this been fun?" 

Bucky smirked and languidly rubbed his ass against Steve's crotch. "I can still think of something that will be more fun." 

Steve shook his head and chuckled softly. "When will you get your mind outta the gutter?" 

"When you fuck me after we wash off all this madness," Bucky said, pointing at his hair. "Or before we wash it off. I don't care either way." 

Steve snorted as he tried to hold back a laugh and let go of the other man before he began to blush. Yeah, he thought either of those options were _great_ and certainly _doable_ , but he didn't like _talking_ about it with his friends a few feet away. The blonde couldn't help behaving like a total prude in front of his friends even though he _wasn't_ a prude. 

Conveniently, Bucky's phone started to chime as it let them know that the cookies should be taken out of the oven. Steve looked for some oven mittens and slid them on before opening the oven. He pulled out a couple of the trays and the dancing ~~children~~ Avengers cheered, "COOKIES!" 

"Keep it together, people. These need to chill before Steve decorates them," Bucky said, taking out the remaining cookie trays in the oven. He stared down at his work and nodded approvingly. The cookies looked _perfect_. 

The Avengers made sure to make their complaints loud and clear. Bucky ignored the lot of them and so did Steve. They set down the trays where the cookies could cool and the Avengers stared at the trays with longing in their eyes. Steve felt like laughing just by looking at the expressions that were on their faces. 

The blonde then suddenly seem to come to a silent conclusion and started the process of cleaning up. He didn't say anything about what his intentions were and simply picked up a broom to begin collecting the mess they had made on the floor. Bucky didn't even think twice before he joined in, picking up the eggshells from the floor and throwing them out in the trash can. The others, upon seeing the two men begin to clean up their act from the food fight they had, began to help out in the cleaning process themselves. 

With all of them working together, the kitchen was spotless in under an hour. All the dishes had been cleaned and put away, the kitchen counters had been wiped squeaky clean, the outside of the oven was cleaned, the cooler was organized and the ingredients that had fallen on the floor were taken care of, the floor was actually formally vacuumed and mopped and even the ceiling had been cleaned because for some mysterious reason eggs and _other_ things had been stuck to it. 

As a matter of fact, the kitchen looked better after they had tidied it up than when they had first gotten there. Seeming as it were, the cookies Steve and Bucky had baked and the cookies Pepper and Tony had baked were ready to be decorated. Bucky was in charge of brushing on the sugary icing onto the cookies while Steve piped out the details of the cookies with frosting. The two of them made beautiful snowmen, trees and gingerbread men. They truly were a masterpiece to look at. 

Once both Team Red and Team Yellow were finished decorating the cookies, they were ready to be tasted by those who would determine who the winners would be. Of course, the judges were Natasha, Sam, Clint, Bruce, Jane and Thor because they were the ones that hadn't actually managed to make any cookies. Steve was okay with that because he knew his friends would keep their promise. He knew they would choose the cookies Bucky had made. Sure, the blonde was completely biased and knew that regardless of anything he would think the cookies the two of them had made were _the best_ , but he was happy to know he had friends who would go along with what he had asked of them. 

Steve, Bucky, Pepper and Tony set out their cookies in Christmas themed trays and offered them to their friends. The lot of them first took Pepper's and Tony's cookies to give them a try. Pepper said in her kind but serious tone, "Now be fair in your judging. No biased choosing of who made the best cookies." 

The judges all nodded and tried the cookies Team Yellow had made. They all seemed to like the taste of the cookies and nodded their appreciation of them. Bucky quickly stole one of the cookies to know what they were up against. Steve immediately did the same. The two of them tried the cookie they chose at the same time. The blonde was actually surprised when he found that he actually _liked_ the cookies the other couple had made. He nodded, smiling slightly, and said, "Not bad. But we're still gonna beat your asses." 

Steve then held out his tray of cookies to his friends. They all quickly chose one and bit into them. The blonde felt like they weren't playing around when they all groaned happily. Natasha was the first one to speak up, "These are the best sugar cookies I've had in my life!" 

To further prove her point, she shoved the rest of the sugar cookie that was in her hand into her mouth and smoothly stole three more from the tray Bucky was holding. Jane was the next one to voice her opinion, "This is seriously amazing, Bucky. I didn't know you even knew how to bake." 

"We all have to have our secret talents," Bucky said, a smirk taking shape on his lips. Steve quickly picked up a cookie for himself and let out an unabashed moan when he tasted it. He was sure he had a little piece of heaven in edible form right in that moment. He was unashamed when he took another bite of the cookie and let out another moan. 

"Keep it in your pants, Capsicle," Natasha said, already stealing more cookies. 

"I think we all know who won," Sam said, finally speaking up. He had the good sense to speak without his mouth full, but as soon as the words were out he shoved a piece of sugar cookie into his mouth. 

"Shall we all say it together?" Thor asked, looking at the others for confirmation. They all nodded their agreement. 

In unison they all cheered, "The winner is Bucky!" 

Right around that moment, they all stormed in to bear hug Bucky. The concept of personal space was completely forgotten and it seemed to Steve like they were all trying to hug Bucky hard enough that his internal organs would all pop out of his mouth. Steve couldn't hold back the grin that overpowered his face when he looked at all of them, especially Bucky. 

Bucky wasn't exactly smiling, not with his lips, but his eyes were shining. He was staring down at all of those with their arms wrapped around him and he _looked_ happy. He looked like he was right at home. It made Steve's chest burst with excitement and reassurance. It felt good to know that everything had turned out right in the end. In the end, he had his friends and he had his Bucky. What more could he ask for? Every day it seemed more and more obvious to the blonde that he had everything any man could wish for. 

Bucky eventually broke free of the bear hug and walked over to Steve. He wrapped his arms around the blonde and whispered, "You have your 'I am a total sap' face on. What are you so happy about? I don't think that it's the fact that you totally cheated to make me win this competition." 

Steve squared his jaw and looked down stubbornly at Bucky. "First of all, you won fair and square. Everyone loved your cookies. Just look at them." 

The two of them looked over at their friends and found them laughing as they stuffed their faces with the cookies Steve and Bucky had baked for them. Bucky tightened his hold around Steve's waist and looked up at the blonde. "Maybe you're right, but that still doesn't explain why you're looking like such a sap."

"I'm looking like a sap because I'm happy. I love my friends and I love you and as ridiculously cliché as it sounds, it makes me happy to see you all happy. I _like_ seeing us all get a long." Steve cupped Bucky's face, cheeks sticky now with not only sugar, flour and eggs but also sweat, and forced the other man to look at him. 

Bucky smiled, his whole expression tender and vulnerable and only for Steve. "I love ya, punk." 

"Love you too, jerk," Steve said, leaning down to press a kiss to Bucky's lips. He tasted like sugar and home. Always like home. 

Bucky gingerly pulled back and gave Steve his grin that could make the best of angels fall into sin and said, "Now about that fuck you promised me. . ." 

"I don't remember promising anything." 

"Well you little punk—" 

Steve made a run for it when he heard those words. Bucky chased after him without any sort of hesitation. Steve's bubbling laughter couldn't be contained by then.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So...This chapter had more cussing than I originally planned. I actually didn’t plan for this fic to have a lot of cussing…but it sort of just happened. I love cuss words. 
> 
> Ps. Hopefully the next chapter will come sooner rather than later. I’ll try to have it done in a couple of days.


	5. Step Five: Have a snowball fight. . . It doesn't really matter who wins.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which a snowball fight happens.

This part of Steve's plan hadn't been planned the way it went down. Although, Steve did not mind how it all unfolded because it turned out better than he'd hoped. Originally, he'd wanted to have a snowball fight where it was Bucky against him, but he wasn't about to (and didn't) turn down the opportunity to have a snowball fight where they could be divided in teams. In teams, it was easier to ~~crush~~ win against your opponent. 

The day, though, had not started out with obvious intentions to have a snowball fight.

**{ * * * * * * * * }**

Steve woke up in a room that was very obviously not his. He hadn't forgotten, though, why he was there and how he had gotten there. After the food fight, clean up, and bake off with his friends, Steve and Bucky had wanted to go drive back home, but the weather wasn't about to allow them to do that. It was snowing heavily outside and by the time they were ready to leave, the sky was pitch black. No one had allowed Steve and Bucky to leave. They'd all decided it was best, and safer, if they all stayed in the hotel. It wasn't luck, though, that Tony had made sure there were rooms ready for them to stay in if it was necessary.

When Pepper had announced that no one should leave when it was so dark out and snowing so badly, Tony handed over keys to rooms in the hotel. No one truly complained. By then everyone was tired and dirty and just wanted a good long bath and sleep. If you were Steve Rogers that meant a few variations from getting to the part where he slept. _Bucky_ had made sure there were a few variations. So their night had gone a bit more like this: one long and hot and filthy fuck (because let's be honest, they were gross by that point), a long steamy shower (where they just washed up, honest to God), another long and sizzling fuck, and finally collapsing on the bed to sleep due to exhaustion. . . Not that Steve was complaining about _any_ of that. He was quite pleased with himself as a matter of fact (although Bucky had seemed _way_ more pleased with himself). 

So it was no surprise to Steve when he woke up in an unfamiliar bed with Bucky naked and pressed tight against him. The dark haired man had his metal arm wrapped tightly around Steve's waist, even in his sleep, and seemed to be trying to meld their bodies into one. His head was pressed against Steve's chest, stray dark locks tickling his chin, and their legs were a tangle of limbs. Steve couldn't help but notice how comfortable the other man was with this position as he slept. This wasn't a surprise, though, because it hadn't been the first time Steve woke up to this. Periodically, as things had gotten more comfortable between him and Bucky, the dark haired man had begun to progressively use him more and more as a huge and human teddy bear. Steve wasn't about to complain.

For a moment, he just sort of chuckled to himself and gently ran his fingers through Bucky's hair. He didn't want to wake the other man, he was a light sleeper, but he didn't. Bucky sighed pleasantly and sleepily nuzzled his head against Steve's chest, the arm around Steve's waist absently tightening. Steve could hear Bucky's breathing, he could tell the other man still slept. Now aware that his tender caresses to Bucky wouldn't wake him, he raked his fingers through Bucky's dark hair and gently kissed the top of his head. Keeping his movements subtle, he traced with his thumb the line where Bucky's flesh met his hairline. He kept the movement barely perceptible, more a gentle _idea_ of the touch than the touch itself. 

It wasn't long, though, before his fingers trailed downward and he began to lazily draw patterns on Bucky's back. He wasn't really trying to wake the other man, honest, but he just couldn't keep his hands to himself. They itched to touch every inch of smooth skin on Bucky's back. Steve had nearly memorized every inch of Bucky's skin and every mark it had on it, knowing the body of the man he loved more than his own, and he couldn't help but lightly touch the other man's back. With a finger, he began to trace a path between the beauty marks he had memorized on Bucky's back. He didn't need to look at them to know where they were. He had a clear and stark image of where they all were. 

When his path led downward, to Bucky's lower back, Steve noticed the other man had woken up. Bucky arched into his touch, searching out the finger that had been tracing the path across his skin. Steve laughed, his breath passing over Bucky's head, and he flattened out his palm against Bucky's lower back. "Mornin'. Didn't mean to wake you." 

Bucky hummed softly under his breath and gently rutted his hips forward. "Are you sure about that?" 

Steve only chuckled at Bucky's attempts and moved his hand to Bucky's hip to still his movements. Bucky wasn't fazed by this action. He just sighed and said, "Okay. Plan A is a no-go, but I had to try. It was nice waking up to that, though, Stevie. Heavenly if I'm being perfectly honest." 

Bucky's face was still buried in Steve's chest, but his words still managed to carry out clearly. Steve wrapped his arms around Bucky and kissed the top of Bucky's head loudly just to make a point of it. "I love you, Buck. I don't even know if you'll ever understand how much I love you. Waking up every morning with you cooped up in my arms is all I ever want for the rest of my life." 

Bucky groaned in annoyance, but the sound was contradicted by the loving kiss he pressed to Steve's chest. "I love you too, you big sap. Now let's get up. We have to wash up and look for our clean clothes downstairs." 

Their clothes had been left to wash in a pile last night. Steve wasn't quite sure who had been in charge of laundry duty, but someone had done it. They'd all been handed bathrobes (because Tony and Pepper were a duo that thought about everything) to avoid walking around naked. Now that morning had come around, it was Steve and Bucky's duty to go down to look for their clean clothes. After a quick shower and brushing their teeth, they were well on their way to search out their clothes. 

They headed to the laundry room and found that their clothes were neatly folded in a stack with a paper atop them that labeled who the clothes belonged to. Theirs were the only clothes left. The two of them shrugged this off and easily stripped off there to put on their clothes. Once fully dressed, they linked hands and headed toward the kitchen where they figured their friends must be. 

Their guess was spot on. From the door that led to the kitchen music could be heard, this time not Christmas music but still music, and they knew for a fact the others had to be there. When they walked into the kitchen their suspicions were confirmed and they found that all the Avengers were already there. Sam was the one in charge of making breakfast and he was also the first one to notice their entrance. He grinned at them and said, "Finally! I was starting to think you two wouldn't make it. Hungry?" 

"Yes!" Bucky exclaimed, immediately walking over to where Sam stood so he could help him make breakfast. 

"It was about time you two showed up! What kept you away so long? Jane, Thor and Bruce have already had breakfast. Clint and I already are in the middle of eating our breakfast, so, what held you up?" Natasha asked, after she had swallowed a bite of the breakfast she was talking about. Her dark red hair was pulled up into a messy bun and she casually sat atop a kitchen counter as she let out the onslaught of questions. 

Steve walked over to her side while he said, "I was waiting for Bucky to wake up. When he did, we just washed up and looked for our clothes before heading here."

Natasha smirked slightly, like she thought he was hiding something, but didn't comment on what she thought he might be hiding. She just nodded and took another bite from the food on her plate. Once Steve stood beside her, he noticed what it was he was probably going to have for breakfast. She held a plate of half-eaten pancakes, eggs and bacon (apart from a glass of juice). 

She elbowed him when she noticed him watching and said, "Stop lusting after my food." 

"I'm not lusting," Steve bit back immediately and looked away from her plate and to where Sam and Bucky stood making breakfast for the few of them that still hadn't eaten a single bite of food. 

Natasha didn't reply anything to this and just kept eating. Clint, on the other hand, chose to speak up in the absence of her voice. "What are you all planning to do after breakfast? Do any of you have any previous plans?" 

"No," they all said in relative unison. Steve, though, was the only one to ask, "Why?" 

" _Because_ I had a look outside and everything is covered in snow. Its optimal conditions for a snowball fight. What do you think? To channel our inner children?" Clint asked, raising an eyebrow and smiling. 

"You channel your inner child every day," Natasha remarked with a smirk.

Before Clint could come up with a proper come back, Bucky spoke up. "That sounds great! I say we divide into teams right now. I want to know who my enemies are and where my loyalties lie." 

Bucky had a grin on his face and once he had said his fill, he took a bite out of a piece of bacon. He had a snarky expression on his face as he waited for what the others had to say. Steve wasn't about to ignore the chance to check off one of the items on his list. He said, before anyone could really complain about it, "I'm with Bucky. We should divide into two groups and whoever loses, the team leader has to buy lunch for the other team." 

"Now _that_ sounds like a plan," Sam said, already grinning wide at the idea. He flipped over a pancake and then faced all of them. "So, who are the team leaders and who is going to choose who they want on their team?" 

" _I_ should be one of the team leaders because _I_ was the one with the idea!" Clint said quickly with a grin. 

"Then I want to be the other team leader," Natasha said, fast as lightning. She set down her empty plate of food beside her and crossed her arms defiantly across her chest. She already _looked_ ready to kick all their asses. 

"I call Steve! He's on my team now!" Clint shouted, walking over to the other blonde and putting an arm around his broad shoulders. 

"Then Bucky's on my team," Natasha said with a smirk, her eyes glinting with mischief as she looked at Bucky.

"Oh, so that's how it's going to be? Lovers against lovers? Alright, I call Thor!" Clint replied immediately, catching up to Natasha’s drift in mere seconds. 

"I call Jane _and_ Tony." 

"Then I call Pepper and Sam." 

"Good! Bruce is on my team. Get ready to get creamed!" Natasha said with a vicious smile on her lips. 

"You wish! We're going to _end_ you," Clint said, fire in his eyes. 

"We'll see about that," Natasha said calmly, pretending to look at her nails like there was some sort of dirt there she could have missed.

"Well, I am ready to crush your team, Nat. Before our battle begins, though, I need to have breakfast," Steve said, smiling over to where the stove was with warm food being prepared for him to consume. 

"Don't worry, Steve. I've got your back," Sam said, focusing on the food again so that nothing would burn.

It was about half an hour later that they'd all had breakfast and were ready to beat each other's asses in an epic snowball fight. Clint led his team outside and Natasha did the same with hers. Steve, as it were, was more than okay with the idea of being pitted against Bucky. Originally he'd wanted to this with just Bucky and him and there wouldn't have been any _other_ option but to fight against each other. Now that the Avengers had decided to join them, it wasn't really any different. He knew he was ready to _crush_ the other team. Steve might be all fun and games when Bucky was in his own team, but he had no problem with trying to beat Bucky's ass if they were in different teams. 

As they all prepared to leave, putting on coats, gloves and hats, Natasha had started out a weird chanting with her team. Steve wasn't sure what they were saying exactly, he was thinking there was a big chance that whatever they were saying was in another language, but Natasha and Bucky seemed to be enthusiastically repeating the words over and over again. 

Just before they headed out of the hotel to go out into the snow, Sam asked, "Are our teams going to have names?" 

"Yes! We're the Jedi," Clint said, opening the door of the hotel so he could head outside. 

Natasha scoffed, like she thought Clint would change his mind, but then rolled her eyes as she realized he was being perfectly serious. "Alright. Then we're the First Order and you can bet your ass we're going to fight dirty." 

"Bring it on, Nat. The Force is with us," Clint said casually, his voice carrying out for all of them to hear as they all headed out. Steve didn't mind following behind the other man and wasn't surprised when he walked to the back of the hotel. The ground was covered in snow, so much so that it was actually slightly hard to walk through it, but the conditions _were_ perfect for a snowball fight. It was no longer snowing, but it was still really cold out and there was more than plenty of snow on the ground for them to use as a weapon. 

The two teams separated into opposing sides facing each other and Steve made sure to stand where Bucky would be across from him. He grinned wolfishly at him and waved at him. Bucky narrowed his eyes and mouthed "You're going to lose." 

Steve burst out into a full and loud laugh and said, out loud, "You wish!" 

"Just wait and see, old man!" Bucky called out, a grin of his own taking form on his lips. 

"Oh, we'll see who the _real_ old man is." Steve said brightly, finishing off his statement with a smirk on his lips. 

While Steve and Bucky were having this short conversation, the others were doing the same. Clint and Natasha, as a matter of fact, were undergoing a small battle of their own. Natasha was all cool and collected with her replies while Clint got worked up and his voice started slowly rising. 

While some of them were distracted with their arguments, Pepper began to make a snowball. It came to a surprise to all of them when they suddenly saw a ball of snow being thrown and hitting Tony smack in the middle of the face. Chaos erupted in that second, but Steve still heard Pepper's laugh as she noted Tony's incredulous expression. 

"Prepare to die!" Someone from Natasha's team shouted and suddenly all of them were crouching down to make snowballs. 

Steve smoothly walked over to where Sam stood, easily avoiding several snowballs thrown in his direction, and threw a perfectly aimed snowball toward Jane when he stood beside Sam. After he did that, he said to Sam, "You and Pepper should start making a barrier of snow we can hide behind. Clint, Thor and I can cover you guys while you work." 

"Aye, aye, Captain!" Sam said, a goofy grin on his face. 

Steve rolled his eyes and ducked suddenly when a huge ball of snow was thrown in his direction. His eyes immediately fell on the culprit, James Buchanan Barnes, and his eyes narrowed. "It's on, James!" 

"Oh, yeah?" Bucky said, probably preparing to run his smart mouth. 

Fast as lightning, Steve made a ball and threw it in Bucky's direction. The other man only spared himself by barely a fraction of a second. Just like that, the battle between both men intensified. The two of them competed on who could throw more snowballs consecutively faster, then who could throw the largest snowballs and of course the most important was how many of the balls hit the other. So far, neither of them hit their target. 

Once Steve realized he really wasn't covering for Sam and Pepper, he began to focus on his other targets. They didn't stand a chance against a competitive Steve Rogers. In a matter of a minute, he'd already hit all of the other members of team First Order. As a matter of fact, most of them had snow on their clothes while Natasha was the only one who most successfully avoided his onslaught. 

Once the redhead and Bucky realized their strength relied on each other, they teamed up more strongly against Steve. Clint picked up on this immediately and said, "Fuck no! You're going down! Thor, focus on the others! We got Natasha and Bucky!" 

Thor didn't reply but immediately set out to work. Clint and Steve didn't even look at each other, they focused on their lovers on the other team and set out to _destroy_ them. Steve said with a smile, "We got this, Clint." 

With those words, they set out to begin throwing snowballs precisely but also as quickly as they could. They did this for quite some time, both sides finally receiving some hits, before they were suddenly yanked away. It then became evident that Sam and Pepper had finished making their barricade. Steve hid promptly behind the wall of snow and turned to look at the others who were also hiding behind the snow. Together, they formulated a plan to win against the other team. 

With their plan settled, they set out to work. Steve grinned as he began to fulfill his part of the plan. He started making a huge snowball, making sure it was packed tightly and strong, and didn't stop enlarging it until he knew it was perfect. Meanwhile, the others on his team were setting out an onslaught of snowballs against team First Order. Team Jedi was downright _vicious_. 

At the last second, when it seemed like Steve would never resurface, Steve threw the huge snowball with deadly precision. Bucky didn't stand a chance. The snowball hit him on the stomach and knocked him down onto the snow. Bucky shouted, "Rogers!" 

"Come and get me!" Steve called out, already running away and laughing as he replayed in his mind the sight of Bucky being knocked down by the large ball of snow. 

It wasn't long before he could tell Bucky was following after him and was close to catching up on him. He kicked up his running up a notch and Bucky did the same. Neither of them called out anything to each other, but Steve couldn't help the bursts of laughter that left his lips. It was due to this that he didn't notice when Bucky's chase stopped for all of two seconds. Before he knew what was coming, he was hit in the back of the head with a snowball. 

It was all just too much for Steve and he broke out laughing, loud and uncontrollable. Bucky caught up to him and barreled into the blonde and knocked them both onto the snow. This only made Steve laugh harder until he was struggling to get air into his lungs. His face was turning bright red and he felt as Bucky kept throwing fistfuls of snow on his face. As Steve struggled to breathe oxygen in his lungs, he attempted to fight back against Bucky. He started to throw random fistfuls of snow until some of it started landing into Bucky's mouth and the dark haired man began to laugh as he spat out the snow.

"Surrender, Steve!" Bucky exclaimed, laughter drenched in his words and Steve took that and twisted it to his advantage. 

The blonde's own laughter was subsiding while he was building up his strength. Just when Bucky least expected it, Steve rolled them over until he was on top of Bucky. He began to barrel him with snow until their fight turned less into trying to throw snow at each other and more into a halfhearted wrestling match against each other. 

The two of them got so distracted doing this that they did not notice when others approached them. It was the rest of team Jedi and they were set out on making Bucky give up. The fight was over not long after the others joined in. Team Jedi was only half-heartedly throwing balls of snow, too busy laughing to actually pay attention to their accuracy. Nevertheless, Bucky began to laugh when he felt the onslaught of snow from different directions that didn't fully fall on him and stopped struggling against Steve. 

The blonde laughed in victory, the sound joined by Bucky's hysterical and happy laugh, and he cupped the dark haired man's face in his hands. Steve leaned down close, his lips nearly brushing against the other man's, and he whispered, "I win." 

Bucky barked out a laugh and said back, "Just like you always do. . . One way or another." 

"I'm glad you acknowledge my victory streak," Steve said and then broke the small distance between them and kissed Bucky. The dark haired man did not hesitate in kissing him back. Their kiss began to drag out, slow and taunting, and the others began to get impatient. 

"Enough! You're blinding me and scarring me for life!" Clint called out over dramatically. 

"Get up, you two! It's a long drive to where I'm taking you to have lunch. You'll be hungry by the time we get there. Let's _go_!" Natasha called out, jogging up to where the two men lay on the snow and team Jedi stood near them. 

Steve jumped at the sound of her words and helped Bucky stand. Bucky let out a small chuckle before he tightened his hold on Steve's hand and stood close to his side. The blonde said, motioning with his free hand, "Lead the way, Natasha." 

"Keep up, guys and gals," she said as she started walking in the direction of the hotel. 

The lot of them first picked up what remained of their belongings in the hotel and then got into their cars. Natasha was the one on the lead and the rest of the cars piled up behind her in a neat file. Steve was gladly behind the wheel and he had his Christmas music playing as loudly as he wanted. He could feel Bucky looking at him, but he just began to sing along to the music as they all started driving to wherever Natasha was taking them for lunch since she was the ~~sore~~ loser. 

After they were all half an hour into the drive, Steve felt Bucky lean in close to him. The dark haired man pressed a quick kiss to his cheek and then settled back in his seat. Steve sent a genuine smile in his direction, not saying a single word, and then focused back on the road. The blonde knew when words were not necessary and kept his mouth shut. He could feel the happiness buzzing inside of Bucky and that was enough for him. It was enough because he knew that regardless of the details of how his plan for a perfect Christmas went, it would still be perfect because they were together and they were _participating_ in it _together_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To be honest, I hadn't planned for this chapter to come after a chapter with a food fight, but the food fight was completely unplanned. My brain just went "FOOD FIGHT" and I listened. Hopefully this chapter was still pleasant enough to read. Also, it took me longer than I expected to update because I hit a small writers block. 
> 
> On another note, the team names are sort of based on something that I witnessed in real life. It wasn't a snowball fight, but there were two teams and one of them chose to call themselves "the Jedi" and the other chose another name, but I thought it would have been perfect if they'd chosen to call themselves "the First Order". And since I'm me and I do what I want to, I made the teams call themselves that xD


	6. Step Six: Go out drunken carolling with your friends and your lover.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which everyone goes carolling.

This part of Steve's plan had been more of a joke. He had added this step to his plan, but he had never frankly thought it was going to happen. He hadn't been sure there was any way possible to convince Bucky to go out caroling so it had been more wishful thinking than anything else. He had actually begun to believe it was never going to happen, but everything surprisingly turned out in his favor. He hadn't even needed to _convince_ Bucky to go caroling, he’d embraced the idea with open arms. Of course, this had only happened because silly ideas aren't hard to go through with when you're completely wasted.

**{ * * * * * * * * }**

Steve's Christmas Eve morning started out promising and with no plans of going caroling. The blonde woke up to the pleasant sensation of his boyfriend leaving a trail of kisses from his chest to his abdomen. Steve sluggishly attempted to open his eyes, thoughts clouded by sleep and the pleasant sensation of Bucky’s lips on his skin. As he tried to push through his drowsiness, the blonde looked down at Bucky and smiled sleepily, probably looking like an utter fool. The dark haired man stared up at him momentarily, grinning slyly and offering him a cheeky wink, and then resumed his trail of kisses downward. Bucky kept crawling lower and lower and easily spread Steve’s legs, his grip loose and gentle. He grinned devilishly up at Steve, his light eyes sparkling with mirth, and then lowered his face and bit the blonde's inner thigh. Steve reacted automatically, his hips bucking up, and Bucky chuckled before he sucked a bruise onto Steve’s inner thigh. Steve’s hips bucked up again and Bucky spread his fingers over the blonde’s hips to hold him down. The dark haired man moved so that his lips hovered just over the blonde’s hardening cock and Steve automatically spread his legs even further. His fingers slid into Bucky's dark hair, ready to guide the other man's movements, when a sound interrupted them.

What interrupted them was the sound of the doorbell ringing loudly and echoing around the house. The sound was impossible for either of the men to not hear. Bucky groaned instantly, his grip on Steve’s hips unfaltering, and he met the blue eyed gaze of the blonde. "Do we ignore it? We should ignore it." 

The two of them didn’t have a chance to do such a thing. There were two reasons, at least for Steve, why it was impossible to pretend they hadn’t heard the bell. One of the reasons being that no one ever came ringing their doorbell unless they personally knew Steve or Bucky. The second one being that before they could give it much thought, the doorbell was ringing again. 

Steve sighed, disappointed and slightly annoyed, and pulled Bucky up for a short kiss. The dark haired man let out a soft moan, hands cupping Steve’s face in his hands, and before he could think of making things more complicated, Steve pulled away and got to his feet. He called out loudly, hoping his voice would carry all the way to the front porch, "Coming!" 

The blonde took a random pair of sweatpants from a drawer in his dresser and slipped them on. He then headed toward the bathroom adjacent to their room and looked for his toothbrush. He put some toothpaste on it and started to brush his teeth as he walked toward the kitchen. He picked up his keys from the kitchen counter and headed over to the front door, trying to keep toothpaste from dripping down all over his chin. He unlocked the door and was surprised by who he found there. Pepper Potts, looking business-like and ready to take on the world, stood on his front porch with a small smile on her lips. 

"Hey, Pepper," the blonde said around the toothbrush in his mouth. He wasn't quite sure what else could be a proper response to the strange situation. He certainty hadn’t been expecting to have Pepper show up at his house at seven thirty in the morning. 

Pepper’s expression fell slightly as she took in the blonde’s _lack_ of attire. The woman eyed him from the top of his head to his feet and looked thoroughly confused. "Didn't Tony tell you I was coming today? I told him to let you know. I remember that perfectly clear."

"No, but come on in," Bucky said from a couple of steps behind Steve. He also had a toothbrush in his mouth so his words came out slightly garbled, but the message was still clear enough. 

Steve opened the door wider for the woman and she stepped inside instantly. He closed the door behind her and noticed her pulling her coat closer around herself and shivering slightly. She spared the house a small searching glance and nodded as if she had just confirmed something. She mumbled to herself, the words still loud enough for Steve to catch, "Oh yes. I certainly have my work cut out for me." 

"What's going on, Pepper? Why are you here so early? Not that I mind the visit, it's just unexpected," Steve said around his toothbrush, toothpaste dripping down his chin embarrassingly and he cupped a hand under his chin to keep it from falling to the floor. 

Pepper turned back to look at him, a puzzled expression on her face as she eyed the toothbrush in his mouth and the toothpaste dripping from his chin onto his hand, and said, "We're having a party here tonight. Tony was supposed to have asked you if it was alright. I assumed it was because he never told me you had said no. I guess it's now up to me to ask if it is okay. Is it?" 

"A party in our house? Who would be coming?" Bucky asked, standing in front of the kitchen sink. He had spit out the toothpaste and had already rinsed his mouth and face with water. He stood leaning back against the sink, looking skeptical. Steve knew the dark haired man wasn't too keen on having strangers in their house that was meant to be their safe place and separation from what their lives normally were. 

"I'm wondering the same thing," Steve said, walking over to where Bucky stood. 

As Steve rinsed his mouth and face, Pepper said, "It would be the usuals. Natasha, Clint, Tony, Sam, etc. but other close friends will also be joining us. It should be a rather small party. Maximum thirty guests." 

Bucky tensed, Steve could feel his posture going rigid, and he cast a glance toward the blonde. Steve met his gaze and grasped Bucky’s hand to give it a reassuring squeeze. "We won't do anything here you don't want to, Buck, but I also trust Pepper's judgment. It would be nice to have everyone here." 

Bucky didn't look overly pleased with the idea, but he nodded. His shoulders relaxed slightly, but his hold on Steve's hand only tightened. Steve rubbed his thumb over the back of Bucky's hand in soothing circles and offered him an encouraging smile. He met the gray eyes of the man he loved and told him, "You don’t need to get anxious, Buck. A party is supposed to be fun." 

Bucky nodded, determination set in his gray eyes, and said, "Okay. Let's do this. What do we have to do, Pepper?" 

Pepper beamed, a genuine and kind smile taking form on her lips, and she said, "Leave it all to me, boys. Go get dressed and have some breakfast out. I'll make sure the house is in order to receive guests by tonight." 

"You heard the woman, Buck. Let's go," Steve said, grinning from ear to ear in Bucky's direction. 

Bucky nodded in agreement and gave Steve’s hand a small tug. The two men headed toward their room to prepare to leave the house so that Pepper could work her magic. If they weren’t going to be of any use to her in the house, they certainly did not want to get in her way.

**{ * * * * * * * * }**

Steve got a text from Pepper telling him the two of them could head back home when they were still inside the small bakery where Steve had handed Bucky his Christmas sweater. Christie was coincidentally working the shift, looking ready to leave and go celebrate with her family. She was smiling brightly, looking like the sun itself, and humming along to the music playing softly in the bakery. Her eyes kept flittering over to where Bucky and Steve sat and she kept grinning widely at them like she was about ready to explode from all the happiness she was holding inside.

Steve, being as he was, would have invited her over to their house for the party if he didn't figure she was going to spend the evening with her own family. She looked too happy to have any other plans but to do that. Her joy was nearly bubbling out of her in bursts that were contagious. 

"Christie, you got any plans you're excited for tonight?" Bucky asked, surprising both Steve and the employee with his question and nonchalance. 

She blushed, almost instinctively, and shook her head. "Not really. I wasn't able to go back home to visit my family this Christmas. I was planning on spending it with a few friends, but that was pretty much it. I'm just happy because it's Christmas Eve and the evening feels full of hope and promise, you know?" 

Bucky smiled a kindly at her and said, surprising Steve even further, "Would you like to go to our house for our Christmas party? You can invite your friends to join if they're only a few. We can wait until your shift ends so you can follow us in your car. I mean, that is if that is something you would like to do." 

"Are you serious? You're inviting me to go to a Christmas party at Captain America's house?" she asked, stunned. She then quickly covered her mouth in horror as she realized her choice of words. 

Bucky slapped his hand suddenly on the table, making the young woman jump in surprise, and pointed at Steve. "I _told_ you she knew who you were. I _told_ you! She was just too nice to say a word." 

Christie blushed scarlet and tried to hide her face in her hands. Her ears were turning bright pink and she was anxiously nibbling on her lower lip. Steve, being the kind one, decided to put her out of her misery easily. "Don't worry, Christie. It's okay. The offer still stands if you want to join us." 

"Yes!" she exclaimed, slapping her hands on the counter before her. She straightened seconds afterward, trying to compose herself and look professional. Steve followed her gaze and noted that a customer had walked into the bakery. Following behind was a steady stream of more customers. 

In that moment, Steve received a new text from Pepper. **Just to remind you that whenever you are both ready, feel free to head back to the house.**

 **Yeah. We'll be there as soon as we can.** Steve texted back and slipped his phone into the pocket of his coat. 

"Pepper was reminding me the house is ready. We'll wait for Christie to get off her shift and then head home. Does that sound good?" Steve asked, clear blue eyes focusing on Bucky. 

The dark haired man nodded and took the last sip of the coffee in his hands. He held his free hand out toward Steve and the blonde clutched it immediately. He gripped it firmly and kissed the back of it. Bucky made a show of rolling his eyes, but didn't draw his hand back. Instead, the dark haired man stared down at their joined hands and smiled warmly, looking almost contemplative. 

Sharing few words, the two men waited an hour and a half for Christie to get off her shift. Some other girl relatively her same age came in to replace her and the redhead walked toward the two men. She was grinning hugely, but her eyes grew uncertain for a second. "Are you sure you don't mind me crashing your party? I know you two barely know me." 

"We're sure," Steve said, his smile and blue eyes reassuring to the core. With that expression he could have convinced anyone to do his bidding. 

Bucky, considering that he enjoyed making the young woman uncomfortable, said, "And anyway, it's not like we couldn't take you on in a fight if we had to. Right, Stevie?" 

Christie's eyes widened unnaturally and she looked between the two men, seeming to be waiting for one of them to laugh so that she could relax. Steve, of course, was the one to put her out of her misery. He got to his feet and cautiously put his hand on Christie's shoulder. "Don't worry. No one is going to fight anyone. Bucky here just likes to tease you." 

She nodded nervously and tugged at the scarf wrapped around her neck. "So, are you two going to guide me to your house? I'll probably just see where it is and then head back to my apartment to change into something more appropriate for a party and call my friends." 

"Sure. We're fine with that. Let's get going then," Steve said, fishing his keys out of his pocket and grinning cheerfully in Christie’s direction. 

Christie nodded her agreement and soon they were on their way. It was only a few minutes later that they made it to the house and got out of the car. Christie remained in her own car, but lowered one of the windows for a moment. "I'll be back soon. I'm pretty sure I'll remember how to get here on my own. See you both soon." 

"Okay. See you soon, Christie," Steve said, giving her a small wave goodbye. She smiled sheepishly and then disappeared down the drive a few seconds later. 

Steve and Bucky jogged up to their front door and Steve unlocked it. Inside, the house looked like they had hired an interior decorator and had just gotten the house remodeled. There were more decorations in the house, the tree had been moved from its location, there was Christmas music playing softly from a speaker system that had been installed into the home and who knew what else had changed? 

Pepper walked over to them as soon as she saw them head inside. She had been talking to a man, who seemed to be in charge of delivering the food catering, but she immediately walked toward them. She eyed them once again and said, "You should both go get changed. The guests are supposed to start arriving in half an hour. I have to go in a minute to change and get Tony. Did you two have a nice day?" 

"Yes. Now we won't hold you up anymore. You already undertook the task of transforming this house. Go get ready," Steve said, his eyes still looking around his home. It all looked so much more different. He hardly felt like he was in his own house anymore, but the feeling was in a good way.

Pepper nodded her agreement and said, "I will see you both soon."

The woman then talked with a few of the employees that still remained in the house and soon afterward they all disappeared. Steve and Bucky stared dazedly around their house for a moment, but then got a grip on themselves and walked toward their room. They really did have to change into clothes that were more appropriate for the event (especially considering they were ~~technically speaking~~ the hosts of the event).

Now well aware of their responsibility, Steve and Bucky went off to their room to shower and change into clothing that suited the occasion. The two men prepared themselves in companionable silence. The only sound both men could hear was the Christmas music playing from the living room, but it didn't really bother them. Steve was more than okay with the silence and he was sure Bucky felt the same. 

It was only half an hour later that both men stood ready to receive their guests. Steve stared at his reflection, nodded in approval, and looked back at Bucky. The dark haired man stood leaning against the doorframe of their room. From behind him, the sound of Christmas music came clearer into their room. Bucky had both hands buried in the pockets of his pants and had a small smile on his lips. His gray eyes were focused solely on Steve and only after a brief second of contemplation, he held out a hand toward the blonde. 

Steve grinned, feeling genuinely content, and walked over to Bucky to grab his hand. He intertwined their fingers and pressed his forehead against the other man's. He stared directly into Bucky's eyes and whispered, "Are you sure you're okay with people coming over to our house? I know that sort of thing is still a bit overwhelming for you when it's, you know, _our_ house." 

Bucky smiled, hands reaching out to cup Steve's face, and he said firmly, "It's perfectly fine. I wouldn't have said yes if I didn't think I could handle it." 

"Just makin' sure, Buck. I don't want Christmas Eve to be ruined," Steve mumbled, leaning down and pressing a chaste kiss to Bucky's lips. 

The dark haired man rolled his eyes and said, "You worry too much. Everything is going to be great." 

As if to punctuate Bucky's words, the doorbell rung at that precise second. Bucky released the face of the blonde and took his hand once again. He grinned, the expression sincere, and said, "Let's welcome our first guest." 

The dark haired man tugged at Steve's hand and began to lead them toward their front door. Steve smiled and allowed himself to be led, but not before first saying, "You do know it's probably Pepper and Tony at our door, right?" 

"It doesn't matter, Stevie! Put a smile on that face and let's open this door!" Bucky said, giving Steve's hand a small squeeze. 

The two of them reached the front door and Bucky opened it with no sort of hesitation. To the surprise of both men, it was neither Pepper nor Tony at their door. Clint and Natasha stood there with three girls standing behind them looking anxious and cold. Natasha motioned back with her head and said, "Are these strays yours? The redhead said you invited them." 

Christie, directly behind Natasha, waved nervously in Steve's direction. The smile on her lips looked forced, like she would break out into a sweat in that moment if it weren't so cold out, but she did manage to keep herself from shaking with all the nervous energy she had inside. "Hey. They're not really going to kill us, are they?" 

"'Course not," Bucky replied instantly. He stepped aside and opened the door wide. "Come in. It's not looking like much of a party in here right now, but the others will get here soon enough." 

Natasha, Clint, Christie and her two friends stepped inside immediately. Steve closed the door after them and started taking the coats from all of them and putting them in the coat rack. Christie and her two friends shuddered slightly, but managed a smile even though they still looked anxious. Before awkward silence could settle between them, Clint went off to turn up the music and the doorbell rang again. 

After that, the people began to flood inside. First came Pepper and Tony, but they were followed by Jane, Thor, Sam, Bruce and other close choice friends. As soon as people kept heading in, easy conversation began to flow around all of them. Christie and her two friends began to talk with other guests, looking slightly star struck, but managing to keep it together. Drinks were passed around and the air around all of them mellowed out. 

It was into several drinks, when the conversation was flowing smoothly, that Thor suddenly jumped to his feet. "I forgot the gift I brought with me!" 

With those few words, he slipped out of the house and to his car, Steve presumed, and came back less than a minute afterward. He stepped back into the house holding in each arm a medium sized barrel. "Some proper mead! Directly from Asgard!" 

"Now we're talking!" Tony called out, a grin on his face. 

"It's 'bout damn time! I thought you were going to let Stevie and me down! You know this doesn't do shit for us," Bucky said, making a gesture with the beer in his hand. 

"I do not disappoint!" Thor boomed cheerfully, setting down the barrels onto the floor and closing the door behind him. 

"I'll pour us all a drink!" Natasha called out, jumping to her feet in an instant. Sam followed after her and said, "I'll help you out!" 

As they all waited for their drinks, they listened to Clint resume telling a convoluted story he had already begun to narrate with Natasha cutting in every thirty seconds. He went right back into the narration and they all focused back on him. When Natasha and Sam started coming around to hand out drinks, they were all immersed completely in what Clint was telling. 

With this casual and peaceful air around them, the drinks passed around easily between them. Steve wasn't an idiot, he knew that in under an hour he was already _completely_ wasted. Asgardian mead was strong stuff and none of them were being cautious over how much they drank. They kept refilling again and again their glasses. Steve's sight was already blurry and things were beginning to spin. He kept laughing, finding pretty much anything that was being said hilarious, and he was pretty sure Christie was giggling in a corner. He wasn't sure if someone had given her a drink, but his thoughts were too muddled for him to really care. 

Another hour passed and they were all so trashed that they were dancing haphazardly in the living room and singing off-key. Bucky and Steve were trying to dance properly but they kept stepping over each other's feet and _giggling_. Clint, Christie and her two friends were belting out song lyrics and dancing around together. Everyone else was just dancing around to the best of their drunken ability. 

All in all, Steve was feeling pretty damn jolly. He hummed along to music as he threw his arms around Bucky's shoulders and swayed dazedly to the rhythm of the music. Steve wasn't sure how long they were this way, still passing around drinks and dancing, but eventually a voice broke through all the madness. 

"Oh! Oh! I have an idea!" One of Christie's friends called out, jumping up and down slightly and raising a hand. 

"We're listenin'" Bucky slurred, his head turning to focus on the young woman. 

Her eyes were shining, Steve was sure of it, and she stumbled over to them. A wild grin was on her face as she approached them and she slapped her hands onto Bucky's shoulders. "We—" the girl hiccupped and then giggled. "Caroling. All of us. It will be fuuuuuuun." 

The young woman then burst into a fit of giggles and hid her face behind her hands. Everyone cheered at her words, Clint being the first to reply. "Yessssss. Let's gooooooo!"

Clint was so certain of what he wanted to do that he immediately staggered over to the coat rack. A few of the others stared after him dazedly, seeming a bit confused, but then Bucky spoke up. 

"I'm iiiiiin! Le go!" Bucky drawled, tugging at Steve's arm and attempting to lead him to the front door. 

Steve, noting this willingness from Bucky, nodded his head and stumbled after the dark haired man. Bucky, without any sort of shame, exclaimed, "Yaaaaaay! Stevie is in!"

"Follow the leader-leader! Follow the leader!" Natasha started chanting, shaking her head at the beat of her words. A few of the drunken guests followed after her and began to giggle as they tripped over their own two feet. 

"Coats! Don' forge your cooooats," Steve sang, picking up a coat for himself and having enough grace to put it on. Bucky followed suit, his movements actually managing to look normal, and then he put an arm around Steve's waist. 

The dark haired man moved closer to the blonde and, as if it were a secret, whispered, "Caroling. Fun caroling." 

Steve nodded, his head moving far too much than it should have, and he leaned in closer to Bucky's touch. Once this was done, he lazily motioned with his hand for everyone to follow him and said, "Let's gooooo! My neighbors are waiting for their carol!" 

With that exclamation, the whole drunk party departed from the house. They all stumbled their way to the beginning of the street so they could start knocking on doors and singing. Steve, in this state of utter drunkenness, was sure this was the greatest idea he had ever had in his life. He clumsily put an arm around Bucky's waist and dragged him forward in the direction of the first house they were about to harass. 

The blonde stumbled over to the front door and knocked on it harshly. He kept knocking like a madman and from the back of their group they started saying, in a sing-song tone, "Yooouuu huuuuuu! We carolerssssssss. Yooooouuu huuuuu!" 

"What are we singin'?" Sam had the sense to ask in a drawl before the door was opened and they had no single idea of what to do. 

"O’ Christmas tree!" Steve answered immediately, just around the same second the front door opened. 

A quite startled and confused looking couple opened the door to the curious group. It was in that moment that they all broke into song before the couple could even second-guess opening their door to the lot of them. 

Steve started with "Oooooohhh Christmas treeeee!" 

Bucky continued, "Ohhh Christmas treeeeee!" 

Sam went on, "You're really fuuuuckinn looooooooveeeelyyyyy!!" 

Then Thor broke out an, "Siiiiiilent niiiight, hoooooooly niiiiiiight!"

Jane continued with him, their voices ringing loudly around the group, "Aaaaaaall is caaaaaaalm! Aaaaaaall is briiiiight," 

Bucky broke out between their great singing to shout out, "Bloooondeee young viiiiiirgin! Mooooother and chiiiild!" 

"Hoooooly indignant sooo teeeender and chiiiiild," Tony continued, swaying from side to side dramatically, a hand against his chest for even more dramatic effect. 

"Sleeeeeeep in heeeeeaveeeeenlyyyy peeeeaaaaaaceeeee," they all chorused loudly, their voices deafening. 

The door was slammed on their faces, but not before the woman broke out giggling and rolled her eyes. The man looked pissed off. Steve thought those were both excellent reactions. Due to this, he exclaimed, "Next 'ouse!" 

The group cheered and the lot of them headed toward the next house. This time it was Bucky that pretty much barreled onto the door. He didn't even have to knock, his impact on the door was hard enough that someone opened it immediately. It was a couple of kids and a teenager who looked thoroughly unimpressed. 

Bucky broke out into song immediately, "Deck the halls with boughs of hollyyyyy" 

"Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blaaaaah!" Tony and the rest of the group chorused. 

"'Tis the season to fuck Bucky!" Steve sang loudly. The drunk group behind him didn't even blink an eye, they merely sang, "Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blaaaaah!" 

One of the little boys, who was staring wide eyed and open mouthed at the group of grown men and women, exclaimed, "Is that Captain America?" 

Natasha emerged from the crowd and dashed toward the doorknob. She clasped it in a moment and began to close the door as she shouted out, "Nope! It's just his distant cousin Leave Rogers! Bye noooow!" 

Then to the group of drunken fools she hissed/shouted, "E'rybody ruuuuuuun!" 

They all blindly followed her directions until they nearly reached the end of the street. In a sudden decision, Bucky ran up to the front door of one of the houses. They all stumbled after him and watched as he fervently knocked on the door, determined for the person inside to open the door 

When a grumpy and red-rimmed eyed man opened the door, Bucky broke out into song without any sort of hesitation. "Ooohhh the weather outside is fucking horrible!"

"But the fire is so fucking hoooot!" Steve sang along, swaying from side to side. 

"And since we've got everywhere to go!" Thor continued in his booming voice. 

"Let it snoooow! Let it blooooow! Let is snoooooow!" They all sang in unison, their terribly pitched voices making every single glass in existence want to shatter to pieces. 

They all kept singing and didn't even notice the man disappear from their sight until he showed up again. There was burning anger in his eyes and he held a jug of a thick liquid in one hand. "Oh! I'll make it snow on you motherfuckers!" 

The man proceeded to throw the substance onto all of them. He angrily set the jug down and then walked toward his front lawn and began to throw snow in the direction of the large group. All throughout this, obscenities kept flying out of his mouth between bouts of, "Oh I'm making it snow. Hell yes I'm making it snow!" 

Steve, thoughts still impaired by his drinking, only had the sense to laugh and touch the substance on his cheek. He sucked the fingers with the liquid into his mouth and noted it was eggnog. He nodded approvingly and said, "'Is good." 

Bucky stared at him in puzzlement for a moment before running a finger through the substance still left on Steve's cheek and giving it a taste. "Yuuuum!" 

A ball of snow then promptly landed onto Bucky's face and he barked out a laugh. He was about to return the favor, throw a snowball, but he tripped and fell onto the cold snow. All this managed for the dark haired man was to make him giggle like a crazy person. 

"Get off my property!" The owner of the home shouted, face bright red. He looked like he was about to detonate into a billion tiny pieces. 

"We're leavin! We're leavin'! Big pussy!" Clint called out, waving the owner of the house off and beginning the march back toward Bucky and Steve's house. 

Everyone followed after the blonde, including Steve and Bucky, and they all eventually returned to the proper house. They all sort of tripped into the living room and then onto the floor. Wherever they fell, no one really bothered to get up. Steve was sure he landed somewhere on top of Bucky and before he knew it, he was sound asleep. The others, without really agreeing to, did the same. The lot of friends passed out together, seemingly forgetting the next day was Christmas, but apparently comfortable with being around each other. Steve was sure he had never been at more peace than he was that night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was a long time coming. I apologize. Inspo sort of disappeared and so did time. I make no promises as to how soon the next and final chapter is coming. Also, I changed Christie's age cause before I sort of imagined her as 16 but I decided to make her 19 (Yeah, still underage drinking but shhhhhh. Don’t tell Steve)


	7. Step Seven: Propose to your lover on Christmas Day (make sure to do it in an irritating way so that you know they really are THE ONE)

Steve had always set out to have this as the last part of his plan, partly because it was the most important part of the plan and partly because he liked to finish things up with a bang. He'd both thought about it a lot and at the same time hadn't needed to think about it at all. He'd always known he wanted to marry Bucky. He would have married him back in the 40's if he could have. Now that he had him back, he wasn't sure how he had managed to keep himself from asking the other man to marry him. In the back of his head, Steve was sure he hadn't asked because he knew Bucky wasn't ready for such a big and important question. Now, though, in this year Steve had shared with Bucky, the blonde had been reassured that the time had come to pop the question. Of course, he never said he wouldn't propose to the jerk in the most annoying way possible. What Steve had not been expecting was to have a major hangover on the day he was going to ask the man he loved to marry him. He'd also not been expecting to wake up that morning surrounded by all his friends who were also hangover. He’d expected to wake up blissfully happy, the weather and feeling in the house perfect for a proposal, but things hadn’t panned out exactly as he imagined them. Steve had figured that was okay.

**{ * * * * * * * * }**

Steve was sure he had never in his life woken up with such a major headache. He was nearly a hundred percent sure his brain was about to explode. The moment the blonde cracked his eyes open, the light from the early morning blinded him and made his head pound. He groaned loudly, covering his eyes with a hand, and shuffled around. His movement was rewarded by a groan of complaint and irritation and a harsh shove. Steve looked behind him, his vision blurring for a second, and his eyes quickly zeroed in on Bucky. The dark haired man was looking at him through squinted eyes and with a pout on his lips.

"Why the fuck does my head feel like any second now it's going to blow up into a million pieces?" the dark haired man asked, a finger poking at the fabric of Steve's shirt. Bucky’s expression was of slight bewilderment and annoyance and Steve couldn’t help but find it endearing even as he felt the pounding in his head grow stronger.

Steve sat up, which made his world spin for a second and his head pound even more, and he stared down at his sweater. The red fabric was stiff in a spot where a substance had fallen onto it. The blonde frowned and closed his eyes for a second as he tried to recall the events of the previous night. He was surprised with the amount of clarity the memories returned to him with only the slightest prodding to his mind. 

"Buck, we went carolling last night. We were drunk off our asses and I wouldn't be surprised if one of our neighbors sues us," Steve said, running a hand through his blonde hair as he tried to clear his thoughts further. 

Bucky sat up suddenly and just as quickly clutched his head as he apparently noticed what a terrible idea it was to move so quickly. The dark haired man puffed out a breath and rested his head on the blonde's shoulder. "I think I remember. Let's not do that again." 

“What part? The drinking or the carolling?” Steve asked, a smile taking shape on his lips as he looked down at Bucky. 

The dark haired man seemed to contemplate Steve’s response and said, “On second thought, I think we should do it every Christmas. I think that Grinch we have for a neighbor would be good to harass again and again.”

Before Steve could think of a suitable response, his train of thought was interrupted by a voice that came from somewhere in the mass of bodies that surrounded him and Bucky. It was the voice, not only the question, that reminded Steve that they had all crashed into the house after their carolling and had passed out in unison in the living room floor. "Where the hell am I?" 

Steve cast a glance around him and found that everyone that had been invited to their party the previous night was accounted for. Even Christie and her two friends were among the pile of bodies. Christie's red hair was a mess around her head and Steve was pretty sure there was drool on her face. The blonde chuckled and turned his face so he could kiss the top of Bucky's head. The dark haired man wrapped an arm around the blonde and nestled in closer to him. 

"Is anyone else waking up? Anybody in the mood for food?" Steve asked, eyes scanning around the group of friends piled around him. 

He got a chorus of replies that were contradicting. Some of them groaned half-alert 'yeses' while the others grumbled upset 'no's'. Bucky tightened his hold around Steve and hissed, "Don't you dare move. It's Christmas morning and you're not allowed to move an inch from my side." 

Steve chuckled, every second bringing his mind more clarity, and he gave the top of Bucky's head another kiss. He wasn't about to fight against the request of his boyfriend. "Whatever you say, Buck." 

"Everybody needs to leave this house. Don't you have Christmas presents to hand out in _your houses_?" Bucky demanded, head still resting calmly on Steve's shoulder. Steve nudged him firmly on his side, scolding him, but Bucky only shrugged like he couldn't care less. The dark haired man probably _didn’t_ care about being rude. There were certain moments when James Buchanan Barnes felt like being completely and utterly selfish and Steve knew this was one of those moments. 

"Fuck you, James," Natasha grumbled, sitting up and glaring daggers at the dark haired man. Bucky didn't react in any way to her expression even though it was deadly. He only tried to get even closer to Steve and buried his face in the crook of the blonde's neck. 

Slowly, the rest of Steve and Bucky's guests started getting up. They were all disoriented as they came to their senses and cast looks around their surroundings until they remembered, at least partially, what had happened the previous night. The last ones to actually wake up were Christie and her two friends and they looked even more confused than the lot of them all combined. Christie’s eyes searched out Steve and her eyes widened as she came to a sudden realization. 

One of Christie’s friends smartly said, “I’m never giving you up as a friend. I’ve never been in a room so full of badass people and I probably never will be again. Thanks for that.”

“I’m still not completely sure what’s going on is real,” Christie said, wiping the corner of her mouth and slowly, lethargically, patting down her head as she took in the state of her hair. She shuddered slightly when she guessed how it must look and tried to smooth it down with her fingers. 

Steve grinned in her direction and smoothly took Bucky’s hand in his own. With little effort, he brought the two of them up to their feet. Bucky complained the whole way up, but once they were standing he didn’t say much further and simply leached himself even closer to Steve’ side. The blonde put an arm around the waist of the other man and asked the group of his friends all in his living room, “How is breakfast sounding right about now?” 

“Downright heavenly. I’m helping,” Jane said, getting to her feet slowly and walking over to where Steve and Bucky stood.

In a matter of a few minutes, the kitchen in the possibly soon to be Rogers-Barnes residence was filled to the brim. Everyone was stepping around each other as they tried to do something productive. The fridge hadn’t exactly been equipped to feed breakfast to over twenty people, so they had to improvise. Breakfast ranged from pancakes, eggs and bacon to flat out having soup and casseroles. No one was really complaining. Once they had all, slightly, gotten over their headaches and Aspirin was passed around, everyone was functioning more or less okay. 

Steve, of course, being the one that felt the best was the first to put on some Christmas music. Guaranteed, he put it on low so that his guests wouldn’t murder him, but he couldn’t _not_ put on the music. He hummed happily along to the tunes and Bucky mumbled the lyrics softly under his breath. The dark haired man had not left Steve’s side, but it wasn’t like the blonde was going to start complaining. He found himself all morning long either softly stroking Bucky’s side, or giving him a gentle squeeze, or running his fingers through the other man’s dark locks or taking in deep breaths of Bucky’s familiar scent. No. Steve was not complaining at all. He was so happy he could burst at the seams with the emotion. Honestly, could the man be judged for feeling such a way? His house was filled with his friends, everyone was rumpled, slightly grumpy yet happy at the same time, and he had Bucky by his side. He really couldn’t ask for more. . .Well, maybe one more thing. 

**

{ * * * * * * * * }

**

It was three hours later that, at last, Steve and Bucky were alone in their house. Their friends had all left the house in small little groups, whenever they all felt like they were well enough to drive, and it was now that the two men had a chance to be by themselves. Bucky, as he had been all morning, was attached to Steve's side like he wanted to become one with him. In this way, nearly attached by the hip, both men slowly searched for the Christmas presents they had stashed away. Neither of them was truly about going all out buying presents so there wasn't much they had to look for. Each man had bought exactly three gifts for the other one and they slowly dragged them toward the Christmas tree. 

Of course, Bucky stared wide-eyed at the huge box Steve saved for last to bring toward the tree. In the huge box was contained Steve's true surprise for Bucky. He only hoped Bucky would say yes. He was pretty certain he would have a major life crisis if the other man said he wasn't ready to get married. Either way, the blonde buried his insecurities, plastered on a smile on his face that wasn’t too hard to conjure and made sure the two of them were sitting on the floor in front of the tree. 

Christmas music played softly around them and for a while was the only sound shared between them. Bucky, though, was the first to break the silence and pick up a gift and hand it over to the blonde. He smiled kindly and said, "Merry Christmas, punk." 

Steve grinned and ripped apart the wrapping paper. He was more than happy when what he held in his hands was a set of colored pencils. He'd been ranting for months about how he needed to get new ones, his current ones were short little things because he refused to buy new materials until the old ones were as completely used as humanly possible, and so Bucky had bought them for him. The other gifts from the dark haired man were related, mostly art supplies, but that was more than okay with Steve. 

The blonde then handed over two of the gifts he had gotten Bucky. He didn't even really remember what he had gotten and didn't really pay attention to Bucky as he opened the gifts. He was starting to get anxious over how Bucky would react to his last gift. He knew he was more than ready to start laughing as Bucky got frustrated so that at least he could put his mind at ease for a moment. The truth was that Steve had never felt more nervous in his life because he had never wanted something so badly and had been so scared of not having it. Steve was stubborn, sure, and got most of what he wanted, but he couldn’t _force_ Bucky to say yes. He couldn’t force Bucky to do anything. 

Trying once more to cast aside his nerves and insecurities, Steve put between the two of them the large box that deep down housed an engagement ring. He grinned widely in Bucky's direction and shoved the box closer to the other man. Bucky narrowed his eyes suspiciously, lips pursed, but still took the box. He slipped off the bow at the top and ripped apart the wrapping paper. The dark haired man then easily opened the box. His expression turned into one of confusion when he saw a slightly smaller box inside. He took out the smaller box and proceeded to open it. He grew even more perplexed when there was a smaller box inside. He pushed aside the two other boxes and fixed Steve with a serious expression. 

"What are you playin' at, Stevie?" 

"Nothin'. Just keep going," Steve said with a nonchalant shrug, pointing at the box Bucky held in his hands. On the inside, the blonde was smiling even as he felt nervous all at once. 

Bucky obliged, looking hesitant, and opened the box. When he found a smaller box inside, he threw the other one towards Steve. "Steven Grant Rogers, what the fuck are you doing? Is this a prank gift?" 

Steve let the box thrown at him hit him smack on his chest. He laughed and picked up the box. He looked up at Bucky, blue eyes full of genuine innocence, and he said, "I promise that it isn't a prank gift. Now are ya' gonna keep opening the boxes or do I gotta make ya'?" 

Steve challengingly raised an eyebrow at Bucky and the dark haired man rolled his eyes. Bucky sighed, resigned, and opened the box. He found an even smaller box inside and his patience finally broke. He threw the box at the blonde and then began to open the boxes as fast as he could.

When Bucky had already opened a total of eight boxes and hadn't reached the gift yet, he launched himself at Steve. "You fucking little shit. You're pranking me. Admit it, punk!" 

Steve threw his head back and laughed heartily. Her wrapped his arms around Bucky's waist and gave his lips a soft peck as the other man squirmed in his hold. He rubbed his nose tenderly against Bucky's and whispered, "I promise I'm not pranking you. Please keep opening the boxes."

Bucky sighed and grumbled something unintelligible under his breath. He pulled away from Steve's hold and sat across from the blonde but closer than he was before. He picked up the box he had discarded beside him when he launched himself onto Steve. He looked up at the blonde, the corners of his eyes slightly tight with irritation, but he did as Steve asked. He kept opening the boxes, now in a nearly frantic manner, but he made sure to throw all the empty boxes in Steve's direction until he finally hit jackpot. 

Bucky froze when he held in his hand a small black box. He stared at it incredulously, eyes wide, and his mouth slightly hanging open. He met Steve's gaze and the blonde crawled closer to the other man. Steve cupped Bucky's face in his hands and said, voice unwavering and strong, "Bucky, _my_ Bucky, I've waited so long to ask you this. There was a long time I believed I was _never_ going to be able to ask you this, but now I have my chance. Ever since you came back into my life, I've wanted to ask, but it has never felt more right than now. Before, it would have been a mistake to ask, it would have been too rushed. Neither of us were ready before for this, but I think we are now. I know I am. I am ready to spend the rest of my life by your side, Buck, if you will have me. I know there is no one else in this earth that I would rather spend the rest of my days with than you. I don't care if all we have is today or years upon years together. I just know that I want to spend each and every single day of my life with you and that every moment apart is nearly agony. I don't ever want to let you go again. I will never give up on you again. I'm holding on tight and I'm never letting go. So, Bucky, my love, my best friend, will you give me the best Christmas gift imaginable by agreeing to marry me?" 

Bucky's eyes were shining with tears. His nose and cheeks were turning pink with the effort of trying to hold back the tears. He was not able to resist much longer. The second he let out a shaky breath, the tears came out and he threw his arms around Steve hard enough that he knocked him onto his back. 

"Yes, Stevie. I'll marry you, you big goof." He tightened his hold around the blonde and began to pepper him with kisses. As he buried the blonde in kisses, he mumbled a river of replies. 

"I love you."

"Of course I'll marry you."

"You little shit."

"What took you so long? I've been waiting forever to marry you."

"I fucking love you."

"Punk." 

Steve took in all the words as both praise and encouragement. He took Bucky's face into his hands and pressed his lips firmly against the other man's. Bucky positively melted into his touch and kissed him back greedily. He kissed Steve as if it would be the last time and he wanted to memorize every second of that moment and the feeling of the blonde's lips on his. Steve couldn't help but smile under the pressure of Bucky's fevered kiss. He could feel tears falling onto his cheeks and knew for a fact Bucky's tears were mixing in with his own. He wasn't ashamed, not even a little bit. Steve couldn't be happier and more in love than he was right at that very moment. 

“Merry Christmas, Bucky,” Steve whispered, pulling away slightly from the other man. 

“Merry Christmas, you little shit. If you pull a stunt anything like this at our wedding, I’m going to kill you,” Bucky whispered back, voice soft and as unthreatening as imaginable. 

“Is that a threat?” Steve asked, burying his fingers into Bucky’s hair. 

“It’s a promise. Now kiss me again so we can then call our friends and force them to come back to our house. We have news to tell them.”

**THE END**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know everyone has written this fic trope but I don’t care. I started this fic to write this very scene. I hope you all enjoyed this fluff fest *cough* I mean fic.


End file.
